British Columbian hotel workers who have been impacted by COVID-19 are planning a hunger strike outside the B.C. legislature in an effort to get the government’s attention.
The planned strike, which is being described as “open-ended,” is to draw attention to the province’s 50,000 laid-off hotel workers, says representatives of the Unite Here Local 40 union.
The union, which represents hospitality workers across the province, has said they are planning to “encamp at the legislature and forgo food until the government gives them a legal right to return to work.”
The planned hunger strike is scheduled to begin on Monday, August 10 at 10 a.m.
“While the province contemplates the tourism sector’s request for a $680 million bailout package, hotel workers need a guarantee that they will be first in line to get their jobs back,” reads a statement from union representatives.
According to Unite Here Local 40, over 50,000 hotel workers have been laid off throughout British Columbia as a result of COVID-19 and they are looking for a legal guarantee that there will be jobs to return with the economy reopening.
The initiative, which is being dubbed “Fast for Our Jobs,” will be the latest demonstration from the hospitality union, which protested the same issue outside the Legislature in early July.
Union representatives suggest that hotel workers are being permanently terminated from their jobs before the industry has even had a chance to recover.
Protesters with Unite Here Local 40 suggested back on July 7 that employers are using the pandemic as an excuse to fire long-serving employes and avoid severance.
“Employers are not doing the right thing,” said Zalinda Chan, union president. She also added that hotel companies should be required to rehire their laid-off employees before they hire new workers.
According to the union, laid-off hotel workers, community allies along with faith leaders from Victoria and the Lower Mainland will be partaking in the hunger strike, which has no scheduled end date.
Graham Cox
