Workers Strike at Vancouver Federal Quarantine Site Over Mass Firings, Devastating Rollbacks
Women leading strike say, "Trudeau promised a 'Feminist Recovery' but won't protect the women at the hotel he controls."
VANCOUVER, BC, May 3, 2021 /CNW/ - While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promises a feminist recovery, a hotel taken over by his government is destroying living wage jobs that enabled women and immigrant workers to join the middle class. Workers at Pacific Gateway Hotel (YVR Airport), currently a federal quarantine site, went on strike this morning. Room attendants, front desk agents and others represented by UNITE HERE Local 40 are striking over the hotel's refusal to return staff to their jobs as business recovers and efforts to roll-back years of economic gains.
Pacific Gateway has terminated 103 workers - 42 of them this weekend – and nearly two-thirds of those fired are women. The hotel has fired much of its pre-Covid workforce, many of whom served for decades. The government has extended its contract several times and has looked the other way as hard-hit workers pay the price.
"Prime Minister, I was fired this past weekend after 27 years of service. Is this what you call a feminist recovery? I have 3 girls - one in Grade 5, one in high school, and another in college. Pacific Gateway is outright attacking women and our federal government is doing nothing to stop it. You said you would prioritize women in Canada's economic recovery — but you've failed us. That's why I'm on the picket line today. We're not going to give up on everything we worked so hard for," said Pardeep Thandi, a room attendant permanently laid-off this weekend.
The hotel is using the temporary COVID-19 crisis to propose permanent changes that undermine job security and make the work more precarious. They want to reduce many workers' pay to minimum wage. That would mean as much as $6.50/hour less for servers, hostesses, baristas, dishwashers, and others. The employer also wants to eliminate workers' current union health and pension benefits, eliminate paid time off and severance, and other cuts.
The government has given the hotel industry billions in public subsidies and other relief while the industry turns back the clock for women and racialized workers. Pacific Gateway Hotel, owned by PHI Hotel Group, has taken advantage of CEWS, but unclear whether any workers benefitted.
SOURCE UNITE HERE Local 40
Stephanie Fung, [email protected], 604-928-7356; or Michelle Travis, [email protected], 778-960-9785
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