The
Hilton Metrotown Hotel in Burnaby has for many years been one of the
main hotels in the Vancouver area used by BC unions for meetings and
conferences and to accommodate out of town members in Vancouver for
union activities. The hotel owners have fired dozens of workers who
were laid off due to the pandemic. When the pandemic hit UNITE HERE
Local 40 and the hotel owners were in negotiations for the renewal of
the collective agreement. During the course of the past year the hotel
owners have both refused to negotiate extended recall rights for the
workers, and introduced new demands for concessions in bargaining,
concessions that would reduce wages and benefits and undermine other
working conditions previously negotiated.
On
April 1, UNITE HERE issued a press release
containing messages of
support from the leaders of five BC unions
representing over 200,000
workers which we are reprinting below:
Teri Mooring, President, BC Teachers'
Federation
"The BC Teachers' Federation and our 47,000
members stand in
solidarity with UNITE HERE! Local 40 members.
Consequently, we have
decided to withdraw all Federation business
from the Hilton Metrotown
Hotel until workers, including those laid off
during the COVID-19
pandemic, are guaranteed recall rights and
have achieved a
fairly negotiated collective agreement. We
have no interest in doing
business with a corporation that appears to be
attempting to use the
pandemic to blatantly disregard the rights of
unionized employees, who
are primarily women and people of colour. Our
hope is that our
collective action sends a strong message to
the Hilton Metrotown."
Stephanie Smith, President, BC Government and
Service Employees' Union
"The BCGEU will refuse to book at the Hilton
Metrotown as long as
they use the pandemic as an excuse to
eliminate the jobs of long-term
staff, primarily women and persons of colour.
On behalf of our more
than 80,000 members, we stand shoulder to
shoulder with hotel workers
as they stand up to this attack on their
livelihoods. We
will direct all future bookings to hotels that
commit to return workers
to their jobs as tourism returns."
Betty Valenzuela, Financial Secretary,
Hospital Employees' Union
"These are difficult times for workers and
businesses in many parts
of the economy -- and the impact on hotel
workers has been
particularly devastating. But things will get
better, and we would have
expected that the Hilton Metrotown would plan
to return these workers
to their jobs once business picks up. I'm
disappointed to learn that
this is not the case. We value our
relationship with the Hilton
Metrotown Hotel, but I want to be clear that
we will withhold future
bookings in the face of unjust treatment of
these workers."
Lori Mayhew, Secretary-Treasurer, MoveUP
"This pandemic has reminded us how important
it is to stick
together. MoveUP is supporting the workers at
the Hilton Metrotown who
deserve to be treated with dignity and
respect. If the Hilton Metrotown
can't respect their workers and guarantee
their rights to return to
their jobs, then we will take our business
elsewhere."
Jamey Mills, Regional Executive
Vice-President of
Public Service Alliance of
Canada-BC
"Our union has been a customer of the Hilton
Vancouver Metrotown for
many years. Our position is clear, we will not
use the Hilton Vancouver
Metrotown, or consider future bookings at the
hotel, until all workers
laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic are
guaranteed a right to return
to their jobs once business returns."
This article was published in
April 9, 2021 - No. 26
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08264.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
