Event: June, 2007 UNITE HERE members at GM Place facing management Vancouver, BC - In a great show of strength and solidarity, UNITE HERE members working in food service departments at GM Place have been forming effective workplace committees and held a huge rally outside Vancouver's premier sports and entertainment facility to demand more respect on the job, better working conditions and workplace improvements from their employer, Aramark Entertainment Services. Joining with them were Local 40 hotel workers who marched to the rally in a show of support for their union brothers and sisters. Union members who work at the Four Seasons, the Hyatt Regency, the Westin Bayshore, the Renaissance Vancouver, the Delta Vancouver Airport and the Holiday Inn on Broadway travelled by bus to GM Place and gathered at the south side of the building to organize their march down Abbott Street where they joined with the GM Place workers and UNITE HERE members who gathered from across North America to show their support. UNITE HERE members who work at similar stadiums and entertainment facilities for the same employer, Aramark, travelled from Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Toronto and Seattle to show their support and join with their union brothers and sisters in Local 40 to demand more respect and better working conditions at GM Place in Vancouver. Local politicians and Members of the Legislative Assembly including Raj Chouhan, NDP MLA from Burnaby-Edmonds and Shane Simpson, NDP MLA from Vancouver Hastings as well as NDP Member of Parliament Bill Siksay from Burnaby-Douglas were also in attendance to show their support for the UNITE HERE members. Together, the five hundred strong group chanted, marched and spoke at the microphone as they ensured their message was heard by this employer. The rally concluded with a delegation of Local 40 members addressing Aramark at GM Place with a list of demands to improve their working conditions and get more respect on the job. |
