Local 40 members working at the Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel in Richmond rallied in the hotel lobby during the last days of contract negotiations in December. Thanks to their solidarity and supported efforts, they achieved a new ground breaking collective agreement, ratified by 99% in January, 2008. Hotel workers at the Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel (DVA) in Richmond have ratified a new collective agreement after many months of contentious bargaining that saw rallies, workplace committee meetings and petitions being delivered to management, along with a strong show of support and solidarity by union brothers and sisters from the downtown Vancouver hotels who were victorious in achieving a similar agreement in the fall of 2007. The UNITE HERE Local 40 members working at this property voted in January by a margin of 99% in favour of signing the new three-year contract that rewards them with 12% wage increases plus significant benefit and pension improvements. Local 40 President Jim Pearson, lead negotiator in this round of bargaining, said, “The workers at this hotel were the strongest and most united I have ever seen them. They grasped the full meaning of the Hotel Workers RISING! program and worked very hard to secure this remarkable win. Proudly, they now join with thousands of other UNITE HERE Hotel Workers who will be bargaining in 2010 at similar corporate hotels throughout North America.” With this round of bargaining, housekeepers at the DVA achieved a workload decrease and all workers at the hotel were successful in negotiating a Prescription Drug Card, as well as securing two personal days. Pearson added, “Many of our affiliates in the labour movement stood together with our Local 40 members working at this hotel and showed their resolve in supporting these strategic negotiations by threatening to institute a major boycott at this property and remove more than a million dollars worth of future business. The union also worked hard to ensure our members gathered major support from UNITE HERE’s friends in the community, including a very strong showing from faith-based organizations, politicians and community advocates.” Since the signing of their new contract, the hotel workers at the DVA have been focusing on showing their support, strength and solidarity with their Local 40 brothers and sisters at the Holiday Inn Vancouver Centre on Broadway in Vancouver, where workers have yet to secure a new agreement. | 
