Laid-off Metro Vancouver hotel workers hoping to increase pressure on employer, province

BURNABY (CityNews) — Liza Secretaria is one of nearly 100 workers — predominantly women of colour — who lost a job at the Hilton Metrotown due to the pandemic. It’s now been 111 days since a picket line was set up outside the Burnaby hotel.

It’s day 111 for the workers outside the @HiltonHotels location in #Burnaby, just off Kingsway. Today on @CityNewsVAN @NEWS1130 we’re hearing about a letter asking for these workers, particularly racialized women and moms, to be able to return to their jobs. pic.twitter.com/kgBZnDoIqm

— Ria Renouf ???? (@riarenouf) August 4, 2021

At issue is the demand for laid-off workers to be recalled with their salaries, benefits, and pensions intact as the economy and tourist industry recovers — something the union representing striking workers says the employer has so far refused to discuss.

“Workers are standing outside the hotel because what the hotel is doing is just outrageous, they have fired long term workers, we’re talking about women who’ve had been at this hotel for 10 – 20 years. They’re saying you’re disposable,” says Stephanie Fung with Unite Here Local 40.

“We know that that business is going to come back, women should not be losing their jobs, and that’s why hotel workers are standing out here every day reminding people that this fight is still happening. So far there has  been no commitment to bring workers back to their jobs and that’s what we’ve been asking for for so long.”

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Secretaria has worked at the hotel for more than two decades, and says the impact of losing her job and the prospect of not being able to return has been devastating for her and her family. Like many immigrant women, Secretaria not only supports herself but lives with and cares for her ailing mother, as well as supporting several other members of her family in the Philippines.

“It’s very hard. It’s just too much. I’m looking after my mom. She’s 88 years old, she has severe dementia, and is in stage three kidney failure. So it’s very tough … Some of my family, my relatives back home lost their jobs, and I wasn’t able to support them,” she says.

“We’re just doing the best we can, and we’re working so hard. What they’re doing, leaving us out, it’s just not right. We have to get our jobs back. It’s a job that we love, and the job that we enjoy every day, and we’ve been doing for a long time. Women, immigrants, women of colour, are struggling, are suffering. The pandemic should not be the reason to get rid of us.”

CityNews has reached out to the Hilton Metrotown but has not received a reply.

Thousands of laid off hospitality workers are still demanding government action against hotel operators accused of using #COVID19 as an excuse to cut wages and benefits.

It's been 111 days since a picket line went up outside the Hilton Metrotown in #Burnaby.#bcpoli @NEWS1130 https://t.co/LDt7312s9W

— Marcella Bernardo (@MBernardoNews) August 5, 2021

A rally planned for Thursday has been endorsed by the largest labour unions in the province and the country, and Fung hopes the “unprecedented” action will increase the pressure on the employer, and prompt intervention by the province.

“We’ve been asking the provincial government to step in and guarantee that workers have jobs to return to in business recovers but none of that has really transpired so far,” Fung says.

An open letter addressed to the premier, a number of the B.C. ministers, Hilton management, and the BC Hotel Association echoes the demands of the union. Drafted by the Single Mothers’ Alliance for Gender & Economic Justice and Migrante BC it has since been endorsed by a number of other advocacy groups, labour unions, and five Vancouver city councillors.

“We are appealing to you to take all action necessary to ensure the actions of hotel employers do not roll back immediate and long-term economic outcomes for racialized women workers in the hospitality sector in BC,” it reads.

“Such actions on the part of employers increase precarity and lower wages, permanently worsening conditions in a woman-dominated workforce that has fought long and hard for the jobs and rights they enjoy as workers.”

The #BC government is being asked to step in to make sure the rights of as many as 50-thousand workers are not further eroded.@NEWS1130 has reached out for a response from @KahlonRav @HarryBainsSN @hiltonvanmetro and @bchotelassoc, but no one has been available yet.#BCTourism

— Marcella Bernardo (@MBernardoNews) August 5, 2021

CityNews has contacted the BC Hotel Association, the Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, and the Minister of Labour for comment, but has not received a reply.

According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ report Women, work and COVID-19, 2.8 million women in the country lost their job or were working less than half of their regular hours as a result of the March 2020 lockdown. Those working low wage jobs were disproportionately impacted, as were racialized, immigrant, and Indigenous women.