Photo from Georgia Straight
In his recent op-ed, Gavin McGarrigle, B.C. area director for Unifor, describes some of the structural changes required to bring fairness for hospitality workers in BC. In particular, he highlights the inequity of BC’s liquor server minimum wage, the lack of regulations on tip-sharing, and sexualized dress codes throughout the restaurant industry.
Read the full op-ed here: Fairness for Hospitality Workers is long overdue.
If you missed our workers’ story forums in October, four more are coming up in February throughout Metro Vancouver. Please click here for our event poster and share it widely.
Unpaid wages? Unpaid overtime? Employer taking your tips? Unfair firings?
Tell us about your bad job.
Unfair treatment of workers is all too common in British Columbia. Few people know their rights, and getting justice from a bad boss can be nearly impossible. The BC Employment Standards Coalition is campaigning for better employment laws and stronger enforcement for all workers.
Join us to share your story. You can tell us about a current problem or even something that
happened within the past 10 years. You can also learn about your workplace rights under the Employment Standards Act and other BC laws. If your case involves a legal violation, we will offer advice and can help you to start a complaint. Interviews will be done by experienced advocates. You can choose to tell us your name and the name of the employer, or choose to be anonymous.
****Please note an update to the room at Vancouver Community College on 23 Feb (the poster and graphic below are incorrect): the new room is 300A.
Unpaid wages?
Unpaid overtime?
Employer taking your tips?
Unfair firings?
Unfair treatment of workers is all too common in British Columbia. Few people know their rights, and getting justice from a bad boss can be nearly impossible. The BC Employment Standards Coalition and the Victoria Retail Action Network are campaigning for better employment laws and stronger enforcement for all workers.
Join us on January 11th in Victoria, BC to share your story. This is the first of BC Employment Standards Coalition workers’ story forms planned for January and February, 2017. The dates and locations for more forums in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley will be posted soon.
You can tell us about a current problem or even something that happened within the past 10 years. You can also learn about your workplace rights under the Employment Standards Act and other BC laws. If your case involves a legal violation, we will offer advice and can help you to start a complaint. Interviews will be done by experienced advocates. You can choose to tell us your name and the name of the employer, or choose to be anonymous.
Please click here for our poster and share it widely.
Unfair treatment of workers is all too common in British Columbia. Few people know their rights, and getting justice from a bad boss can be nearly impossible.
The BC Employment Standards Coalition is working for better employment laws and stronger enforcement for all workers. We want to make the issues about real people – and make the case for improvements. Read more and listen here to BC Employment Standards Coalition Co-Chair David Fairey on CBC Radio’s Early Edition speaking about the recent Workers’ Forums, and also on CBC’s Almanac (Oct 18). Fairey and researcher Kaitlyn Matulewicz also published this new op-ed in the Kelowna Capital News on the sexism and unfairness of BC’s liquor server minimum wage.
The BC Employment Standards Coalition held 6 workers’ forums in October 2016 to give workers an opportunity to share their stories of unfair treatment by employers and the difficulty of getting workplace justice. Many workers responded to the invitation to participate in these forums and give personal interviews. The Coalition will therefore continue to hold these forums to gather more stories in early 2017 in and around Metro Vancouver and Victoria. So stay tuned for more details.
In the meantime, if you have a story, enquiry or complaint that you would like to speak with us about you are welcome to contact any one of the following Coalition volunteers:
Murray Gore 604-671-9141 * David Fairey 604-430-636 * Joey Hartman 604-254-0703
Migrante BC, a member of the BC Employment Standards Coalition, is hosting a conference on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program between December 3-4th, 2016. “Building & Strengthening Workers’ Solidarity” will be held at the Unifor Hall, 326 12th Street, New Westminster. The conference will include a presentation by Professor Ethel Tungohan from the Department of Political Science at York University.
For more details and registration info, please click here.
