Around 50 members of UNITE HERE Local 40 and their supporters protested outside the Coast Bastion Hotel on Friday, Sept. 24, demanding a return to work. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

PROTEST

Out-of-work Coast Bastion staff demand return to Nanaimo hotel

Sep 24, 2021 | 5:46 PM

NANAIMO — Active negotiations between a local hotel and union workers have spilled out onto the streets.

Around 50 members of UNITE HERE Local 40 and other supporters demonstrated outside the Coast Bastion Hotel in downtown Nanaimo on Friday, Sept. 24, accusing the hotel of using the pandemic as a reason to fire long-tenured workers and stripping them of hard-earned collective bargaining gains.

Stephanie Fung, communications organizer for Local 40, told NanaimoNewsNOW they want the hotel to bring back the fired workers immediately.

“The Coast Bastion has refused to bring workers back to their jobs, they’re basically using the pandemic as an excuse to get rid of everything workers have worked so hard for and we’re saying no to that. Employers shouldn’t be mistreating workers at this time.”

Hospitality workers were among the many casualties in the early days of the pandemic with hotels forced to lay off staff in a bid to cut costs, as travel and tourism stopped almost overnight in March 2020.

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The workers affected at the Coast Bastion Hotel were under a collective bargaining agreement with a nine month recall period.

Fung said once that elapsed, many were fired instead of being put back on the job.

“The workers that have been left on the job, they’ve been facing increasing work loads, they’ve seen cuts.”

Some were long time employees of the hotel and nearing retirement, according to Fung.

Coast Hotels declined an interview with NanaimoNewsNOW, citing ongoing negotiations with UNITE HERE Local 40.

Jodi Westbury, director of marketing and communications provided a statement on the hotel’s position.

“We are meeting, exchanging proposals and making a sincere attempt to reach an agreement and will continue to keep bargaining at the bargaining table. The industry and the hotel continue to be severely negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the only place to resolve these issues is at the bargaining table..”

David McQuinn, general manager of the Coast Bastion Hotel told NanaimoNewsNOW in July the hotel was like every other major hospitality business in the country, severely short-staffed.

He said the hotel was “actively recruiting” for several roles, mainly in housekeeping and in the kitchen, but were finding it difficult to find applicants.

“If we’re struggling at the top of the market that just really says that there are not enough people out there looking for the roles that we’ve got posted,” McQuinn said at the time. “We’re ok with people who have never been in housekeeping before …we’ve got three or four people who have never made a guest room up in their life, all that needs is more training.”

The 179-room hotel was operating at a reduced capacity in July, only selling the rooms they were able to clean and turn over on a daily basis.

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