Workers at three hotels in downtown Vancouver, each representing some of the largest hotels in Metro Vancouver, have just secured a new multi-year contract with significant wage increases.
On Thursday, Unite Here Local 40 announced its members working at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel, Westin Bayshore Vancouver Hotel, and Pinnacle Harbourfront Hotel have voted 98% in favour of a new collective agreement.
The workers will see incremental wage increases of 34% over the contract term. For instance, a room attendant will earn about $32.50 per hour starting on January 1, 2025, with this wage gradually increasing to more than $37.00 per hour by 2027.
According to the union, by the end of the contract, their members will have the highest wages for hotel workers in Canada.
The union also improved healthcare benefits and won other concessions, with both tipped and non-tipped workers able to access the new benefits. As well, the employers also agreed to contribute more toward workers’ pensions.
“Under the new agreement, workers will have enhanced workplace protections, including a reduction in housekeeping workload, an increase in wage premiums for those doing overnight and training work, and stronger gratuity protections,” reads a release.
“Workers also secured extended recall protections in the event of another pandemic, as well as unlimited recall rights for renovations and natural and man-made emergencies, ensuring workers’ seniority and job security are protected.”
The upward pressure on renumeration is due to a combination of factors, including the local housing affordability and living cost issues, and rising hotel room occupancy rates due to a growing shortage of hotel room supply amid very strong tourism growth emerging out of the pandemic.
This also provides these hotel businesses with labour security through what will be some very strong years for tourism in Vancouver, including the hosting of major events and high-profile conferences such as the 40,000 global attendees expected for the annual Web Summit Vancouver tech conference starting in 2025, the 50,000 global attendees for the Alcoholics Anonymous International Conference in Vancouver in 2025, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The union states their members at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel performed a one-day strike in July 2024 to “press for fair wages and working standards in Canada’s priciest hotel market.”
All three hotels combined represent a total of 1,571 hotel rooms, accounting for nearly 13% of the city of Vancouver’s total hotel room supply. This includes 650 rooms in the Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel, 499 rooms in the Westin Bayshore Vancouver Hotel, and 422 rooms in the Pinnacle Harbourfront Hotel.
As well, each of these hotels feature some of the city’s largest hotel-based meeting and convention spaces.
Unite Here Local 40 was also responsible for the 14-month strike of workers at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel in Richmond City Centre, which ended in August 2024 after members voted in favour of a new contract. Workers at Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel won new benefits and a 31% wage increase through 2027, with room attendants, for example, earning over $30.00 per hour by the end of the collective agreement.
The labour dispute at Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel spilled over into two adjacent hotels as a show of labour solidarity.