By Harinder Mahil
This week several hotel housekeepers filed a human rights complaint against the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel alleging discrimination on the basis of sex and race on behalf of women affected by mass firings. The complaint alleges that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the hotel’s mass terminations disparately impacted women of colour while men’s jobs were more likely to be protected.
The union representing the workers, UNITE HERE, Local 40, held a press conference on October 19 in which it announced details of the human rights complaint concerning the discriminatory firings of women at Pan Pacific Vancouver.
According to the complaint, women were adversely impacted by Pan Pacific Hotel’s actions. The union says that the luxury downtown hotel located at Canada Place fired around 100 long-term workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the total number of women fired since June 2020, 94% are women of colour. Many of them worked in the housekeeping department.
Pan Pacific Vancouver hotel is owned by an affiliate of Westmont Hospitality Group. Westmont is one of the world’s largest privately held hospitality companies, with over 400 hotels worldwide. Westmont received millions of dollars under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program but fired workers anyway. The union states that Westmont received over $42 million worth of publicly-funded Covid relief across North America. Westmont owns three other hotels in downtown Vancouver: the JW Marriott, the Douglas, and Fairmont Waterfront.
“It’s shocking how my hotel fired us — and worse that they fired mostly women of colour. We’ve worked there for decades to make the Pan Pacific successful. One time, an American guest even gave me a $100 US bill when he saw that I worked hard through the entire night. The hotel should be ashamed if the guests knew what the Pan Pacific is doing to us now,” said Jerty Gaa, a fired Pan Pacific public area attendant who served the hotel for 11 years.
The complaint filed on behalf of the women is seeking reinstatement of all group members to their jobs at the Pan Pacific, compensation for lost wages and injury to dignity, an order against the hotel to stop the discrimination and an admission of their discriminatory behaviour, and steps taken to address racism and sexism at the hotel.
Over 50,000 B.C. hotel workers were laid off when the pandemic struck. Over 60% of workers in the hotel industry are women. They are the backbone of B.C.’s hotel industry. Today’s reality is that women in BC are treated unequally. Working women who make up a majority of the hospitality industry are bearing the brunt of the pandemic.
The union says that the Pan Pacific hotel workers are determined to fight back to make sure all fired workers are brought back to their jobs as business returns. Workers should not lose their jobs just because of a pandemic.
A corporation that discriminates against its employees and mistreats them should not receive public funds from our tax dollars.
Harinder Mahil is a community activist and a board member of the West Coast Coalition Against Racism (WCCAR).
