Vancouver Fightback supporters attended a rally in support of the workers of the Coast Plaza Hotel, a hotel in Vancouver’s West End that is closing. The owners are building a new hotel nearby, the Coast Coal Harbour Hotel. In a blatant attempt to break the Hotel’s union, the owners are refusing to transfer any of the 150 workers who stand to lose their jobs when the Plaza Hotel closes. Many of the workers, who are organized with Unite Here, have been working for Coast for decades and have been making a living wage. More info here: http://coasthotels-badforbc.info/
The rally took place in front of the location of the new Coal Harbour Hotel, currently under construction. We congregated on the street outside of the hotel, taking up the sidewalk and one lane of the road. Organized by Unite Here with the support of the BCFED, the rally drew a crowd of around 200-250 people including workers from other hotels, activists from a number of other unions, supporters from a church (who had an impressive traditional banner) and a good dose of NDP politicians. The crowd was very diverse and the atmosphere was militant. It was an exciting change from the usual Vancouver rally; participants were energetic and buoyed by a real feeling of worker solidarity. Organizers handed out mini-flags that read “Vancouver Workers Rising” and kept the crowd chanting for over half an hour (not a small feat in Vancouver!). After much noise making, the crowd was moved to occupy the entire street where we were then addresses by various speakers.
The first to speak were some of the workers from the Plaza Hotel. One worker railed against the injustice of Coast throwing her out of work after having given them over a decade of her life “making them money”. Another worker asked the gathered supporters, “Are you ready to go to war?”. The response was a resounding roar from the crowd. In contrast, the labour and political leaders present offered a meek response. Jim Sinclair, president of the BC Federation of Labour, threatened Coast with a boycott. Libby Davies, MP for Van East, insisted on the need for taking this fight to the courts, that the best avenue was the legal one. It’s not surprising that the workers are more militant than their leaders. But it’s exciting to see the level of militancy and readiness to fight that we saw at this demo. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come in Vancouver.
