Janitors at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), who have been on strike since Thursday, plan to escalate their job action on Christmas Eve, one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2, said its 233 YVR members walked off the job on Dec. 19 and have been without a contract since the end of September.
Negotiations with the workers’ employer Alpine Building Maintenance broke down over wages, which are not keeping up with the rising cost of living, SEIU Local 2 said in a press release Monday.
Shauna MacDonald, principal of Brookline Public Relations and Alpine Building Maintenance spokesperson, was not immediately available to be comment. Paul Michna, a YVR spokesperson, said the airport was not immediately available for comment.
The union said the cleaners have rallied since Dec. 20 in the airport’s designated demonstration area, Chester Johnson Park, and plan to move their picket line on Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT.
Janitors who clean Vancouver’s international airport have gone on strike. They walked off the job just over an hour ago. We find out what’s happening at YVR.
The union did not share where they planned to set up their demonstration, but asked airport workers not to cross picket lines.
“Until now we have refrained from leaving Chester Johnson Park in an effort to create an environment where a deal could still be reached,” Cristina Ignacio, one of the cleaners, said in the press release. “But we still don’t have a deal, so we are going to step things up to make sure we are heard.”
According to SEIU Local 2, its members clean most of the airport including terminals, bathrooms, hallways, the exterior, and airport operations facilities on both sides of security checkpoints.
Jet fuel workers still on strike
Meanwhile, 11 workers who handle jet fuel at YVR are also on strike.
The workers are one of several ways airlines deliver fuel, a Vancouver Airport Authority spokesperson told CBC News earlier this month.
The jet fuel workers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 502, have been on strike since Dec. 12.
They unionized this summer, and are still negotiating their first collective agreement with the workers’ employer SGS Canada.