Over 50,000 B.C. hotel workers were laid off when the pandemic struck. When the hotel industry began mass firings of hotel workers at hotels last summer, workers took their fight to the province, but the government failed to protect workers who want a right to return to their jobs when the industry recovers.
This hurts all workers but especially women who have been hardest hit by the pandemic recession. Over 60% of workers in the hotel industry are women. They are the backbone of B.C.’s hotel industry.
The head of the BC Hotel Association said, “When the business starts increasing the first thing we’re going to do is rehire our employees, because we can’t be in business without our employees” (The Vancouver Sun). But the hotel industry is shedding workers at a rapid pace.
Pan Pacific Vancouver, Coast Hotels, Hilton Metrotown and Pacific Gateway Hotel are just a few of the hotels taking drastic measures to permanently lay off long-term staff – many of them women who have served these hotels for decades. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Thousands more women are at risk of permanently losing their livelihoods.
Today’s reality is that women in BC are treated unequally. While everyone is at risk of contracting COVID-19, the impacts are unequal. Women of all races, sexual orientations, and abilities, particularly working women who make up a majority of the hospitality industry, bear the brunt of the pandemic — economically, socially, psychologically, and physically.
Join us! Learn how you can support women in BC’s hospitality industry who are fighting to protect their jobs. Women are leading the fight for all hospitality workers because no one deserves to lose their job because of the pandemic.