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HOTEL WORKERS FIGHT FOR A LIVING WAGE
PV Vancouver Bureau
(This article is from the August 1-31/2000 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
AFTER YEARS of losing ground to rising living costs in one of Canada's most expensive cities, 2,200 Vancouver-area hotel workers hit the bricks on July 4. The Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union's Local 40 picked the start of the peak tourist season to press for a 12% pay increase over four years, shutting down seven large hotels. The average hourly rate for the workers is around $13, in a city where it is almost impossible to find a two-bedroom apartment to rent for less than $800.
A week after picket lines went up, the strikers rejected a management offer of 8% over four years by a 71% margin. Forced to rely on management personnel to maintain minimal services, the hotels have seen a sharp drop in occupancy rates, and one major convention has been cancelled. The brokerage firm Smith Barney called off a three day meeting for 700 delegates planned for August, and more cancellations are expected if the strike carries over into September's convention season.
By July 21, the strike had been joined by over 300 more members of Canadian Auto Workers Local 3000, which represents workers at another five Vancouver-area hotels. Employers had offered the CAW members a mere 5% increase over three years.
The workplaces behind picket lines include many of the area's luxury four-star hotels, including the Hyatt Regency on Burrard Street, the Westin Bayshore, the Coast Whistler north of the city, and others. But the 3,700 rooms in the twelve hotels make up only 15% of the area's total rooms, leaving non-union hotels taking advantage of the situation to boost their occupancy rates.
Workers at one of the city's highest-profile establishments, the Hotel Vancouver, are members of the CAW who have a different contract. Their agreement expires on August 1, with negotiations scheduled to continue after that date, but they too could be walking picket lines before long.
While bargaining for Local 40 members was supposed to resume on July 25, the employers have moved to restrict picketing. One of the first to succeed was the Westin Bayshore, which has been granted a B.C. Supreme Court injunction limiting pickets to four at each entrance. Another Supreme Court injunction prevents Local 40 members from blocking food deliveries to the Hyatt Regency.
On July 20, Local 40 members set up two small tents on the sidewalk in front of the Four Seasons hotel, which responded by seeking a similar injunction.
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