VANCOUVER — Workers at Richmond, B.C.’s Pacific Gateway Hotel are set to go on strike due to the hotel’s decision of terminating laid-off workers, following a vote 91-per-cent in favour of strike action.
According to UNITE HERE Local 40, the hotel, which is currently a federal quarantine site, has indicated plans to terminate the majority of its workers by the end of March. The union, which represents the hotel’s workers, indicated that picket lines could go up any time after workers issue 72-hour strike notice.
“Women at this hotel are on the verge of losing everything they worked so hard for when they immigrated to Canada…We cannot allow hotels like Pacific Gateway to roll back the clock on women’s economic livelihoods,” says Zailda Chan, president, UNITE HERE Local 40.
The union reports that hotel workers have been displaced since the government brought in the Red Cross to replace them and perform similar job duties.
