Hotel willing to negotiate, wants ‘fair-share deal,’ with striking workers: Holiday Inn Express GM

Union employees at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Regina Downtown are still on strike, and the two sides have not talked since the strike started Monday.

Contract negotiations between the union, UNITE HERE Local 41, and the hotel have been ongoing for more than two years since the contract expired in June, 2015. Last May, the sides sat down with a mediator but were unable to negotiate a new contract.

On Wednesday, Garry Whalen, president of UNITE HERE Local 41, spoke with the Leader-Post. Management with the hotel could not be reached at that time, but the general manager of the hotel, Esther Ang, later contacted the Leader-Post.

Ang said negotiations have been difficult. Since they began in 2015, the economy has taken a downturn, meaning times have been harder.

“We’ve been losing our revenue in the hotel and we can’t afford to have that keep on happening, because we might close our doors and everyone, including me, might lose our jobs. We are here to help them to come up with a fair and justifiable agreement,” she said.

Ang said the agreement the hotel proposed is a 1.5-per-cent wage increase each year, compared to a two-per-cent increase each year the union has asked for.

On Wednesday, Whalen said the hotel was proposing no wage increases, and the union asked for a one-per-cent increase each year in the last two years of the contract.

Ang said the hotel wants to stop rollover of sick days so they can’t be stockpiled. Under the expired contract, employees could have unused sick days roll into the next year up to a maximum of 12 days. Employees get four sick days a year.

The hotel also wants to change the benefits premiums arrangement. It pays 100 per cent of premiums for benefits, no matter whether the employee is full or part time.

“We just wanted to come up with this new agreement like a fair-share deal. Like part time gets this and full time gets 100 per cent of the benefits. That’s what (the union) are fighting for, because they want all people to be getting the same thing, which for us it’s unfair for the fulltime staff,” Ang said.

Ang said most of the employees choose to work part time.

Since the strike started Monday, the hotel has been fully operational. Ang said she and other managers have filled in for shifts of striking employees, and temporary employees are being paid wages similar to those of unionized employees.

Ang said there has not been any communication between hotel management or owners and the union since the strike started.

“I think we will have to start reaching out again and maybe contacting Garry, or Garry will contact us. So it’s just a matter of time, like who will reach who first ... but we are always willing to negotiate,” she said.

When reached Friday, Whalen said the union still hadn’t heard anything from the hotel management or owners.