I’m fasting in front of the legislature for my job, future

Hotel workers need province to help with employment recovery, says Naden Albenes.

I began a hunger strike with nine other laid-off hotel workers and community allies outside the B.C. legislature in Victoria on Aug. 10.

I chose to fast because we stand to lose everything we earned over the years. Our booming industry was shuttered because of government restrictions on travel and group gatherings because of COVID-19 — and we understand that.

Yet, the crisis facing hotel workers is real, and we need the province’s help to make sure we have a pathway back to our jobs when the industry recovers.

I worked as a room attendant at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel where I’m proud to have served guests for 12 years. I have been laid off since mid-March because of the pandemic. My hotel hasn’t said whether I will be recalled back to work.

It has been over 140 days since my layoff. I’m on my last CERB payment and B.C.’s rental supplement will expire. All my money is going to rent. Soon, I may have to give up my apartment because there is little work available right now. It could take another 24 months for business to come back.

I just want to know I will have a job to go back to when business improves.

Going without food for five days isn’t something I normally do — and definitely not in front of the legislature for all to see. It has been painful.

I almost collapsed and had to be pushed in a wheelchair, but my co-workers and I are hurting even more due to the government’s inaction to protect B.C.’s hotel workers. We are fasting because 50,000 laid-off hotel workers need a legal right to return to our jobs or else thousands of workers will lose much more than a few meals.

We need the right to be recalled to our pre-COVID-19 jobs for however long it takes for the industry to recover.

A medical professional advised me to stop fasting, but how can I when workers’ livelihoods are on the line? The current rules under employment standards never envisioned COVID-19 and nothing compels employers to recall workers laid-off because of it.

We can’t wait any longer. The tourism sector is asking for a $680-million provincial bailout, but will there be guarantees to ensure laid-off workers will be first to return to our jobs? While the sector was hit hard, employers shouldn’t receive taxpayer recovery funds while firing laid-off workers.

Last week, the province announced steps to ease the process for businesses wanting to delay severance payouts. Fasters were disappointed that there was no announcement on job security for workers. What about those of us facing mass terminations and forced to waive our rights? We shouldn’t lose everything we have worked so hard for because of the pandemic.

The solution isn’t complicated. Whether union or non-union, 50,000 laid-off hotel workers are at risk of permanently losing their jobs. We need the right to be recalled to our preCOVID-19 jobs for however long it takes for the industry to recover.

We will continue to fast until the government gives us a legal right to go back to work. The province says no decision will be made before a review of recall protections concludes Aug. 20.

Time is running out. Hotel workers are suffering. This hunger strike symbolizes what could happen soon: workers’ years of hard work wasting away before your eyes. If the government doesn’t act, we will see thousands of more jobs lost in the coming weeks. I can’t imagine what that will be like, to lose all that I have worked so hard for. We are fasting for our jobs and our future.