Employees involved in B.C.'s longest hotel worker lockout are once again making their voices heard, one year after they say they were suddenly left without their jobs.
More than 400 locked out Hilton Metrotown workers, Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley, other elected officials plus labour and community representatives from across the Lower Mainland will be rallying outside the Hilton Metrotown at 5 p.m. Thursday afternoon (April 14).
“While the business class wants us to believe there’s a labour shortage, the Hilton Metrotown is refusing to return their long-term staff who want to work," UNITE HERE Local 40 president Zailda Chan said in a news release.
"Workers will continue to reach out to customers and investors, and picket the hotel for as long as it takes!”
The union says the location locked out room attendants, front desk agents, banquet, and kitchen staff on April 16, 2021, after terminating 97 long-term staff, impacting at least 50 workers who live in Burnaby — a move the union has called "mass firings" amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This past June, several unions threatened to boycott the hotel and pull $2 million in business next year if no agreement was reached by the end of the month, in addition to money already lost in 2021.
UNITE HERE Local 40 then started a public petition in July, calling on any supporters to also boycott the hotel over unfair treatment of locked-out employees.
In a written statement to the NOW, the hotel said it has offered to resolve the labour dispute through binding arbitration while claiming the union cancelled mediation dates in March of this year.
Hilton Metrotown also says there is no lockout and employees "are free to return to work anytime" and insists the union is on strike.
"HVM (Hilton Vancouver Metrotown) believes this [binding arbitration] is the most sensible path forward to bring closure to this long dispute," the statement reads.
"Due to the business conditions during the pandemic, a significant number of HVM employees did see their seniority rights under the Collective Agreement expire before the strike started, due to the length of their layoff. When their seniority rights expired, their employment did end based on the terms of the Collective Agreement. In bargaining, the union sought to have those employees reinstated with seniority, and HVM agreed to that request more than six months ago.
"The Hilton Vancouver Metrotown remains an important hub for the City of Burnaby, and a meaningful employer for upwards of 200 valued associates. We do not believe a continuing labour dispute is in the best interests of our associates, the Hotel or our community. That is why we are prepared to take the step of bringing the labour dispute to an end, through binding arbitration."
Hilton Metrotown added they have asked the union to respond to its proposal to settle the dispute through binding arbitration by April 19, 2022.
"We believe it is time to put this dispute behind all of us, and to move forward."
In response, UNITE HERE Local 40 said in an email to the NOW the lockout was conditioned, saying workers were invited back if they were willing to give up union health and pension benefits, paid time off and workload protections that protect health and safety.
"That's an impossible choice for workers."
August sit-in drew massive support
Eight months ago, the union representing the workers blocked the intersection of Kingsway and Willingdon, voicing displeasure with Hilton Metrotown management and calling for an immediate end to the lockout.
"This lockout has dragged on for far too long," UNITE HERE Local 40 President Zailda Chan said to a large crowd gathered in front of the hotel.
"That's why we're here today. To put our bodies on the line. We're taking over the streets today to stop the city in its tracks and we're here to say 'no' to the mistreatment of workers.
"We're not going to let these hotels get away with pandemic profiteering. No to replacing workers with cheaper hires, no to rolling back wages to minimum wage and eliminating pension and health care benefits. 'No' to that."
Liza Secretaria, a night auditor at the Hilton for 21 years, says she lost her brother and mom within months of each other last year and then was suddenly without a job.
"I love my job because I enjoy talking to people, listening to the stories of my guests and getting to know them," she told the crowd.
"The pandemic hit British Columbia last March and that's when my life turned upside down. Last August, I lost my mother to cancer, after a few months, my brother died from COVID-19. Then, last April, I was locked out. It's just too much. Losing my mother and my brother, just was very hard."
"What happened at the Hilton Metrotown was just the tip of the iceberg. Women, hotel workers, are hurting over British Columbia. Many women like me, an immigrant, single mom, are hurting because of losing their job because of the pandemic. But that should not be the reason to get rid of us! I urge Hilton to Metrotown to do the right thing, now."
Prominent union leaders in the province also joined workers and supporters at the sit-in, calling on hotel management to reinstate jobs.
Teri Mooring showed her solidarity, while also calling on the Hilton Metrotown management to reinstate workers immediately.
"On behalf of the 47,000 members of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation [BCTF], we support you," the BCTF president said.
"As we've heard, workers at the Metrotown Hilton, along with the Pacific Gateway, are women, are women of colour, are single mothers all trying to support families and we need to support you in this fight. This is not fair. This is not OK. You deserve so much better from the owners of the Hilton.
"It is not OK. We need to fight this. Hotel owners need to be put on notice: you cannot profit off the backs of women, workers. It is not OK. I'm here today to deliver the strongest possible message. The BC Teachers' Federation stands with all UNITE HERE Local 40 workers. We're here to fight with you. We're standing with you. We aren't going anywhere."
BC CUPE President Karen Ranalletta warned hotel management they haven't just picked a fight with the currently locked out employees, but with union support across the province and country.
"A hundred and 12 days. A hundred and 12 days of fighting for dignity, fighting for your jobs and fighting for respect. A hundred and 12 days. That is incredibly unfair and shameful. This employer has deep pockets. This employer hates unions. This employer wants more than anything, for you to give up.
"They haven't just picked a fight with the employees here. They've picked a fight with the entire labour movement. When you take on one of us, you take on all of us. You don't take on just us here in British Columbia, you take on everybody across the country. That's not a fight that I'd want to pick."
Hospitality Industrial Relations (HIR) labour relations consultant Kevin Woolliams, who represents the employer, told Glacier Media in July the situation is a strike.
"The union has refused to set further bargaining dates with the employer," he said. "More than 15 days were offered to the union in May, and the union, as of June 3, has offered no dates in June."
- with files from Chris Campbell, Burnaby NOW, and Glen Korstrom, Business In Vancouver
