Treatment of Women
During the Covid public health crisis, the hotel’s pandemic firings of 143 workers disproportionately impacted women, particularly racialized women. In response, a housekeeper filed a human rights complaint on behalf of herself and 89 other women against the hotel for sex and racial discrimination. The complaint is still pending.
Other Metro Vancouver hotels agreed to recall workers to their jobs as the pandemic subsided. Pacific Gateway, now Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport, refused.
Of terminated employees, 90 are women; of that group 69% are women of colour.
The mass terminations affected 74% of all women employed by the hotel when the pandemic hit.
The hotel terminated 90% of its housekeeping staff, also predominantly female.
Women with 20, 30 and even 40+ years on the job were impacted by pandemic terminations.
“For 41 years, I cooked meals for guests at this hotel. Now I’m on strike to support my fired co-workers. I helped make this hotel successful over four decades. We don’t deserve to lose everything we worked so hard for.”
Surinder Sekhon, Cook
“For 17 years, I worked at the hotel until they took advantage of the pandemic to fire 90% of its Room Attendants. We made this hotel successful. We don’t deserve to be treated like garbage. That’s why I’m on picket line. It’s time the hotel brings us all back.”
Kiran Dhillon, Room Attendant
