Harrison – Employees at the Harrison Resort are facing a lockout, and they are not alone.
One employee at Harrison Resort, Brenda Callander took to social media to post the Labour Relations Board 72 hours notification.
Another employee there, who wished to remain anonymous, said this action had nothing to do with COVID and everything to do with eliminating worker benefits and reduce wages to the minimum legal level.
FVN learned that there is a Zoom meeting for Wednesday evening (April 28) with employees to clarify what is going on and the FVLC Fraser Valley Labour Council is involved.
FVLC released a statement on Thursday which reads in part: (The entire document is here)
UNITE HERE Local 40 held a press conference today to address a 72-hour lockout notice issued by Hospitality Industrial Relations (HIR), an employer group representing 32 hotels, motels, and liquor stores across BC. Over 1,200 hospitality workers and their families in 14 communities will be affected if the lockout goes into effect. Hospitality employers are refusing to commit to retain their workers—mostly women and people of colour who served their hotels for years—to get through the COVID-19 crisis.
UNITE HERE Local 40 has called on HIR to jointly request mediation and find a path forward to address the impact of the pandemic on hospitality workers and their employers.
The lockout notice comes just as the Province announced they will provide an additional $25 million in ‘circuit breaker’ grants to the hotel industry, on top of $120 million announced last week to aid the economic recovery of the tourism sector.
Without a commitment to return workers to their jobs when the COVID crisis is over, more hospitality workers will be terminated. Mass pandemic firings have been used as a threat to roll back decades of economic gains. Two weeks ago, Hilton Vancouver Metrotown locked out hotel workers after firing 97 long-term staff. These attacks on workers, primarily women and racialized workers, prompted the hotel workers union to launch the “Unequal Women” campaign to call attention to hotels that refuse to guarantee workers the right to return to their jobs as the industry recovers.
Hospitality workers in these communities are affected by the lockout threat: Vancouver, Victoria, Coquitlam, Richmond, New Westminster, Abbotsford, Harrison Hot Springs, Kamloops, Castlegar, Fort St. John, Port Alberni, Mackenzie, Prince Rupert, and Fort St. John.
FVN has reached out to HIR West Consulting who is listed in the notice.
Below is the notice that was posted to Facebook and other social media.
