A labour arbitrator has ruled a Richmond hotel didn’t use scabs after laid-off employees claimed this happened last July at an engagement party at the hotel’s restaurant.
Unite Here Local 40, which represents full-time employees of Pacific Gateway Hotel laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, accused the hotel of breaching the Labour Relations Code by using scab workers at its restaurant during an ongoing strike that started in May of 2021.
The hotel, located on Cessna Drive, was recently rebranded as Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport.
The Labour Relations Code bars employers from hiring workers to perform the work of a striking employee.
The union’s application to the Labour Relations Board stated members picketing the hotel on July 3, 2022 saw “well dressed guests” arriving at the Deck, a restaurant in a separate building from the hotel, and learned they were attending an engagement party.
The Deck closed in 2020 due to the pandemic but is at times rented out for private events.
In an application to the Labour Relations Board, the union asked the hotel be required to disclose what work was done at the party and who did it.
“The Union says that there could not have been a three-to-four-hour function at the Deck without food preparation, serving of food, and clean-up after the party, all of which it says is exclusive work of the bargaining unit,” reads the Labour Relations Board decision.
In response, the hotel said it has regularly rented out areas to third parties before and during the strike, and the third parties provide their own food and services.
In adjudicator Gurleen Sahota’s decision, he referred to a September Labour Relations Board decision against the union after the owner held a birthday party at the same restaurant in April.
The union claimed it involved work that would have been performed by bargaining unit employees even though the catering and live band were paid for by Rai.
Sahota ruled, although Rai is a shareholder, he is not the struck employer, and a private birthday party is different from a hotel-related business function. He added the union didn’t provide evidence private parties were serviced by bargaining unit employees.
Furthermore, the hotel shoed it rented out part of its premises before, and people renting were allowed to provide their own catering.
Sahota dismissed the union’s application, explaining he was “not persuaded” food preparation, serving and cleanup was work that would have been done by striking employees.
“I find the mere fact that the (hotel) has profited from a room rental, without more, is not sufficient for me to find a breach of Section 68 (of the Labour Relations Code),” he wrote.
The union will be holding a mass rally outside the hotel on Thursday, May 25, to mark the two-year anniversary of ongoing the strike.
Sheraton workers vote to strike
In the meantime, unionized employees at Sheraton Vancouver Airport on Westminster Highway, voted this past weekend 88 per cent in favour of going on strike, claiming their wages are below those at other hotels.
The hotel workers, which include housekeepers, banquet staff, front-desk agents and the hotel’s Starbucks food service workers, also belong to Unite Here loc. 40. They are seeking wage parity with comparable hotels that they claim pay $5 more per hour.
Picket lines could go up any time after workers issue 72-hour strike notice.
— with files from Maria Rantanen
