Will laid-off tourism workers get their jobs back?

Bending to the demands of business groups, the province has again extended the temporary layoff period so employers can delay severance payouts. While some political leaders will say this protects both businesses and workers hit hard by COVID-19, that is misleading. The extension helps business by delaying severance pay.

But there is no provision from government that gives workers legal rights to get their jobs back as businesses reopen. This must change.

Business leaders presented a doomsday scenario of employers being forced to permanently fire laidoff employees and go bankrupt. The NDP bought it. What everyone fails to say is that some employers are already using the pandemic as an excuse to permanently fire workers.

Leading B.C.’s hospitality workers union, I hear what hospitality workers are experiencing.

Rob Shaw referenced just one example in a Postmedia article last week — the Four Points by Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel fired many of its long-term employees last month using the pandemic as an excuse, and denied them severance.

The government had to put 50,000 hotel workers out of work due to COVID-19 but without ensuring workers any legal rights to return to their jobs. Indeed, we weren’t asked about any of this by the NDP’s Minister of Tourism Lisa Beare before the government gave business what asked for.

Without the legal right to get their jobs back as businesses recover, there will indeed be a doomsday scenario … but it will be for tens of thousands of laid-off workers across the province.

This is particularly relevant for B.C.’s hotel workers who have been among the hardest hit by the pandemic. The majority of hotel workers are women and immigrants.

They are the housekeepers, cooks and front desk agents who are the backbone of the industry. They were among the first to be laid off and will be the last to return to work.

According to the industry, it could be summer 2022 before tourism recovers even if there is no second wave of COVID this fall. Government restrictions on cross-border it travel, cruise lines and large meetings means a slow road back for the sector. Laid-off workers need protection for as long as it takes the industry to overcome this economic crisis.

Will employers bring their workers back or take advantage of the pandemic to give their jobs to new people working for lower pay?

Tourism workers have been instrumental in generating billions in revenue for B.C.’s hospitality industry and the province.

They have worked long and hard to earn decent wages, basic benefits and protections on the job. For work that is so crucial to keeping our economy running, hotel workers deserve more — they deserve a guarantee that they will have a job to return to as the economy recovers.

Our political leaders cannot sit back and allow what happened at the Four Points to happen again and again and again. We recently commissioned a third party to conduct a poll, which found that 92 per cent of B.C. residents across the political spectrum believe companies should be required to rehire their laid-off workers after the pandemic.

There is overwhelming support for laid-off workers to be first in line to get their jobs back. What is not clear is if there is political will.

Premier John Horgan made a promise at a news conference earlier this month. He said that if employers fail do the right thing and do not agree to bring back their staff, the government will step in and legislate.

The time to act is now.