Striking hotel workers demand wages meet cost of living in Metro Vancouver

UPDATE August 24, 2024, 2 p.m.PT: Unite Here Local 40 announced on August 19, 2024 thathotel workers at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport hotel ratified a new collective agreement. The strike lastedmore than 14 months.

Around 200 hotel workers includingroom attendants, servers and front desk agents are nearing two months on strike in Richmond, B.C.,demanding wages to keep up with the cost of living in the region.

"We're just out here for fair living wages," said Shey Lyn who for five years has worked at the Starbucks at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport hotel.

She and other workers have been picketing at the hotel, which is part of a complex of hotels near Vancouver International Airport, with several run by Larco Hospitality, including the Sheraton where workers are unionized.

The unionized workers, represented by Unite Here Local 40, have been without a collective agreement since the last expired in March 2020.

"We tried negotiating for three years," said Shey. "It just really wasn't going anywhere."

'More and more expensive'

Larco, which operates the Sheraton, Hiltonand Marriott Vancouver Airport hotels has not responded to CBC News about the strike and its efforts to negotiate with the Sheraton workers.

Workers at its other two hotels are not on strike, but the British Columbia Labour Relations Board ruled in late July that, in some cases, such as for flight crews and passengers with cancelled flights, guests bound for the Sheraton were diverted to the Hilton or Marriott.

The board ruled that to be using "impermissible replacement workers," because those guests would have otherwise stayed at the hotel where workers are on strike.

WATCH | A Sheraton Vancouver Airport worker says her employer doesnot valuethe work she and others do:

Sheraton Vancouver Airport worker on strike frustrated over lack of negotiation

1 year ago

Duration 0:31

Shaelyn Arnould, who works at the Sheraton Vancouver Airports Starbucks says her employer is not respecting the work she and others do to make the hotel a success.

Sharan Pawa, who speaks for Unite Here Local 40, said some long-time workers at the Sheraton make less than what advocates say is the living wage for Metro Vancouver.

"Metro Vancouver has become increasingly more and more expensive," said Pawa. "And it's very, very hard to have a life there and raise a family there."

Workers asking for boycott

Living Wage for Families B.C., which calculates the living wage for multiple B.C. cities and certifies employers that pay it, says the living wage for Metro Vancouver is $24.08 per hour.

On June 1, the general minimum wage in B.C. increased from $15.65 per hour to $16.75 per hour.

Workers are hopeful their job action will push for its employer to get back to negotiating. In the meantime, they are asking people to boycott all three hotels in Richmond that Larco operates.

"Our allies, our followers, please, please boycott those hotels and respect our strike because we want to get the employer back at the bargaining table and get our workers back to work," said Pawa.

Labour academics say there's been an increase in striking workers, like those in Richmond, and across North America due to a slow degradation of workplace quality, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and wages not keeping pace with inflation.

Workers at another hotel in the area, Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport, which is operated by PHI Hotel Group, have been on strike since May 3, 2021.

Unite Here Local 40, which also represents workers there, said it's the longest hotel strike in B.C. history.

It began after 70 per cent of the hotel's 200 staff were laid off during the pandemic and then not recalled.