Labor & Employment Law

Locked-Out Vancouver Airport Workers Return to Work

By James Parks

Some 300 food, beverage and concession workers employed by HMSHost at Vancouver International Airport will return to work over the next two days after the company agreed to lift a lockout during mediation. The workers, members of UNITEHERE! Local 40, were locked out Feb. 18 after a one-day strike.

Local 40 members have been working without a contract since March 2009. The main issue in negotiations is job security. Sixty workers are set to lose their jobs after the Olympics ends. The workers say they also are standing together to fight for contract language that would provide job security for long-term employees when new food outlets open.

Mercy Dagsaan, a seven-year HMSHost employee, said workers picketed during the lockout “because we can express our rights.”

By staying on the picket line, we are telling them we need respect, justice and that we need a better wage, benefits and pension.

To read more about Local 40’s fight for a fair contract at Vancouver Airport, click here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 24, 2010 (boomark / email).