Workers at the Coast Victoria Hotel and Marina walked off the job on Friday, Aug. 8, launching a one-day strike over wages, workloads and staffing.
According to their union, UNITE HERE Local 40, members began picketing outside the hotel at 5 a.m.
The action follows a 72-hour strike notice issued in June and marks the first hotel strike in Victoria since Fairmont Empress workers took similar action in September 1999.
The union represents about 90 hotel employees, who voted 93 per cent in favour of strike action earlier this year.
Their previous collective agreement expired on April 30, and negotiations for a new contract have been underway for several months.
Housekeeper Melissa Irvine, who has worked at the hotel for three years, said the push for higher wages is about keeping up with the cost of living in Victoria, where the living wage is estimated at nearly $27 per hour.
“For me, I have to choose between getting braces or having a car, living in a safe neighbourhood or going back to school, which is a dream of mine,” Irvine told Victoria News. “I’m very thankful for my coworkers and the life culture we have built here, but we need more. We cannot afford to live in the city we are living [in].”
Workers are also seeking "safe workloads," proper staffing levels and what they call "respect on the job." The union noted that Coast Victoria is operating in one of the best-performing hotel markets in the province, with June occupancy rates nearing 92 per cent and some room rates reaching $1,000 a night.
Michael Hull, a server at the hotel’s Blue Crab Seafood House for 34 years, said he has seen tough rounds of bargaining before, but never tensions this high.
“People aren’t getting paid enough anymore and it’s very difficult to afford to live in Victoria,” Hull said. “In our department, we’re so understaffed it’s hard to do our job. We used to have a first-class restaurant until recently, and we’re losing control of that because we don’t have enough staff.”
The Coast Victoria is owned by APA Hotels & Resorts, a Tokyo-based chain that reported record international earnings earlier this year.
Coast Hotel general manager Stephen Roughley says the company respects employees’ legal right to strike and remained committed to reaching a fair and sustainable agreement through good-faith negotiations.
“Our focus remains on achieving a fair and sustainable agreement through good-faith negotiations. We are open and ready to return to the bargaining table at any time,” Roughley said, noting some services may be limited during the strike.
Picketing is expected to continue through the day, with workers set to return to their posts Saturday morning unless talks break down further.
