Leah Williams, an 11 year employee at the Coast Inn of the North, believes her union, UNITE HERE Local 40, has largely abandoned its members in northern B.C. and is attempting to strip away their right to elect local leaders.
Williams, who has been a shop steward with the union for nine years, is running for an executive board position in the upcoming election of the UNITE HERE Local 40 union. The union represents hotel, restaurant and food service workers throughout the province, including at several hotels and workplaces in Prince George, including the Prince George Ramada, the Coast Inn of the North, the Travelodge Goldcap and the cafeteria at UNBC. Williams, along with other members interviewed throughout the province by The Citizen, said workers outside of Vancouver have seen an erosion of union representation, a pattern of unreturned phone calls and a leadership team that has shown little interest in standing up for members in smaller workplaces.
Williams said incumbent president of the local, Robert Demand, attempted to change the composition of local's leadership structure last fall by removing a by-law requiring an elected representative from B.C.'s north on the union's executive board. She said the union has not had a staff representative based in the north for almost two years.
"We haven't had any representation in the north since then," Williams said.
"So I started a petition up here. I said 'keep the north in the union.'"
The current leadership election, which will see the 5,500 members of the union choose a president and an executive board, has pitted Demand against the incumbent vice-president, Lorie Dyer. Taj Parmar, a cook currently working at the Nanaimo Golf Club, is running for president of the local, with a team of candidates that includes Dyer. Both Demand and Parmar have a full slate of candidates running for 18 positions on the union's executive.
In a bizarre turn, Demand was deemed ineligible to run for President in the election due to being in arrears on his union dues. A Vancouver-based union organizer, Zailda Chan, who has close ties to Demand, is running for president. Election posters bearing Chan's name and the names of her slate of candidates, bear the slogan 'Vote for Robert's Team,' alongside a picture of Demand.
Shelly Ervin, who has served as Local 40's secretary-treasurer since 2013, said workers have told her that if Chan wins the election, she will vacate her position to allow Demand to re-assume his role as president of the local.
"What he's told his people is 'Zailda's going to win, once she gets elected, then she's going to remove [herself] from that chair, and I'm getting back in that chair,' Ervin said.
One current staff member at the union, one former staff member, and one member of Local 40 also said they had heard that members of Demand's slate had said Chan would step down as president if elected, making way for Demand to become president.
Ervin, who will be retiring from the union, is not running for a position in the election.
Loni Martin, a front desk agent and Local 40 member at the Highliner Plaza hotel in Prince Rupert, said the union has had no representation at her hotel for over a year. At first, the four-year employee had no problems. But after the long-time staff member Margaret Prieston retired, the union did not hire a replacement.
"After Margaret retired, we got zero representation," Martin said in a phone interview.
For Martin, the issue came to a head when she attempted to dispute a workplace discipline she had received. Without a local representative to call, she phoned Local 40's Vancouver office, hoping to find some guidance with the complicated process of filing a workplace grievance. Office staff directed her to call Demand, who never returned a phone call. She ended up missing the window to dispute the discipline.
"I tried calling his office, I tried Robert's cell. I sent three faxes," Martin said.
A Vancouver-based hotel worker, who asked his name not be revealed, said he had seen similar issues with representation. He has been unable to find out details related to the accrual of funds in his pension plan after several calls to union staff.
"There's no accountability for things coming in and out of that office," the worker said.
Demand, reached by phone, disagreed with criticisms of representation provided by Local 40 under his leadership. He pointed to ongoing negotiations for cafeteria employees at UNBC, where he said workers and organizers were pushing hard for improved job security and for a living wage. Union organizers and some workers held a rally and brief sit-in of UNBC administrators offices in January.
"We have programs going on all around the province," Demand said by phone.
Demand acknowledged that he was deemed ineligible to run because of issues relating to union dues. He said the high number of members vying for leadership position was a sign of a healthy, engaged membership. He said after the election he planned to continue his role as a negotiator.
"I'm a negotiator. That's what I do," he said.
Some of Demand's opponents acknowledged that he was a skilled negotiator.
Margaret Prieston has been helping Williams campaign at the Coast Inn of the North. The former northern area steward for Local 40 said that, while members are frustrated about the local's lack of representation, the 2012 contract negotiated by Demand at the Coast Inn of the North included significant improvements in benefits and pension. But, she said, negotiations for contracts in Prince George hotels have often taken between a year and two year to complete.
"Robert is a good negotiator to a point but nothing in a timely manner," Prieston said.
According to the Labour Relations Board website, UNITE HERE Local 40 had the second highest number of members lost to decertifications between 2013 and 2017 of any union in British Columbia. The B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union had the highest. With 72,000 members, BCGEU is 13 times larger than Local 40.
*Stuart Neatby was a hotel employee in Vancouver and member of UNITE HERE Local 40 between 2011 and 2013.
