Food service workers walk off the job at Vancouver airport for 'one-day strike'
![Food service YVR Restaurants and food kiosks at Vancouver International Airport are seen in this 2022 photo. (Shutterstock)](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2024/3/15/food-service-yvr-1-6809728-1710538598597.jpg)
The union representing food service workers at Vancouver International Airport says more than 200 have walked off the job to push for higher wages.
A statement from Unite Here Local 40 says the workers are employed by SSP America, which operates more than a dozen food outlets at the airport.
It says food attendants, servers, cooks, dishwashers and other workers set up picket lines at 4:30 a.m. for what's described as a "one-day strike action."
The move ahead of the Canada Day long weekend comes after the union says workers turned down SSP's latest offer as they negotiate their first collective agreement.
A statement from the company says SSP Canada has "negotiated in good faith," it's "proud of the offer" it put on the table, and it hopes the parties can successfully conclude the negotiations as soon as possible.
Unite Here Local 40 says airport concession workers are among the lowest-paid staff at the airport and many of them are immigrant women.
The airport is a certified living-wage employer, but the union says the average hourly wage for concession staff is $7.41 less than the $25.68 calculated by Living Wage for Families B.C. That's benchmark the airport authority says it uses.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6946509.1719687583!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Who are the richest people in Canada? Here's how many billionaires there are
If you gathered all the wealth that billionaires currently have worldwide, you would have about US$14.2 trillion, according to Forbes Magazine. But what about in Canada alone?
'7 years of regret': Raunchy leg piece wins bad tattoo competition at Edmonton Expo Centre
Friday night was a celebration of mistakes for a small group of body art enthusiasts.
Time crunch, rules mess could plague a Liberal leadership race
Calls have intensified for Justin Trudeau to resign as head of the party he almost single-handedly pulled back from the brink after a decimating electoral defeat in 2011.
Despair in the air: For many voters, the Biden-Trump debate means a tough choice just got tougher
The sound you might have heard after the presidential debate this past week was of voters falling between a rock and a hard place.
Lightning deal Sergachev, Jeannot; Maple Leafs acquire Tanev's rights at NHL draft
General managers wheeled and dealed Saturday in Sin City.
235 flights cancelled as WestJet waits to hear from labour minister on next steps in mechanics strike
WestJet said 235 flights have been cancelled Saturday as it waits to see what the next steps are in its ongoing labour dispute with its mechanics.
A year ago, she drank battery acid to escape life under the Taliban. Today, she has a message for other Afghan girls
Holding a mirror steady in one hand, Arzo carefully applies pencil to her brows as she gets ready for an English lesson a short walk from her home on the outskirts of Pakistani megacity Karachi.
A Florida auctioneer was about to sell an 1800s pocket watch. He learned it was a stolen piece of U.S. presidential history
A pocket watch that belonged to Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt was returned to his New York home this week after it was stolen decades ago and later showed up at an auction, according to the FBI and the National Park Service.
U.S. and Europe warn Lebanon's Hezbollah to ease strikes on Israel and back off from wider Mideast war
U.S., European and Arab mediators are pressing to keep stepped-up cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militants from spiraling into a wider Middle East war that the world has feared for months. Iran and Israel traded threats Saturday of what Iran said would be an 'obliterating" war over Hezbollah.