Breaking: Labour Board awards Union damages over Hotel’s multiple violations of anti-scab law
Fifth time LRB has issued order against Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport
Vancouver, BC – Strikers at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport have secured another legal win at the BC Labour Relations Board. In a new ruling, the Board found the employer repeatedly violated the Labour Code when it illegally used replacement workers during the strike. In a rare move, the Board awarded damages to UNITE HERE Local 40, which represents the workers.
Vice-Chair Carmen Hamilton determined the hotel breached the Code during the strike by repeatedly using impermissible workers to perform housekeeping and maintenance work. In B.C., it is illegal for replacement workers to perform bargaining unit work while workers are on strike.
The Board ordered Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport to pay damages to the Union and to cease and desist from using replacement workers. The employer will have to pay the equivalent of lost wages for bargaining unit employees who would have otherwise performed the work.
The Vice Chair also ordered a Special Investigating Officer to conduct an inspection of the hotel. This is the second time the Board has ordered a special investigator to scrutinize staffing at the hotel.
Workers went on strike in May 2021 over management’s mass terminations of 143 workers and efforts to gut wages and working standards. At the time, the hotel was raking in millions in payments from the federal government for its use as a temporary quarantine site.
This is the fifth time the Board has issued an order against hotel management for violating the Labour Code. In May, the Board ruled against the employer and issued a cease-and-desist order to management to stop threatening and intimidating strikers on the picket line. This followed three consent orders issued by the Labour Board last year declaring the hotel had violated labour law multiple times by using replacement workers during the protracted strike.
Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport and The Deck at Radisson Blu is majority owned and managed by PHI Hotel Group. The minority owner, IAG Enterprises, also owns Sooke Harbour House.
“This decision is another step toward justice for strikers who have watched hotel management repeatedly violate the law. We are pleased the Labour Relations Board penalized Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport for its egregious actions. The strikers will keep on fighting to ensure hotel management treats its workers with respect and dignity,” said Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40.
Contact: Michelle Travis, [email protected], 778-960-9785