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Hilton Vancouver Metrotown workers stage protest to mark six-month lockout

Burnaby-based hotel workers will join allies outside Canadian Western Bank
Hilton Metrotown rally August 2021
Hilton Metrotown hotel workers held a rally outside the Burnaby hotel in August to protest an ongoing lockout. They're rallying again today (Oct. 20) in downtown Vancouver.

Locked-out workers at Burnaby's Hilton Vancouver Metrotown are taking their protests to the streets one more time.

Unionized workers with UNITE HERE Local 40 are planning a rally outside the regional headquarters of Canadian Western Bank in downtown Vancouver this afternoon (Wednesday, Oct. 20). Canadian Western Bank is the lender for the hotel's international owner, DSDL.

"Locked-out workers and labour allies will call on Canadian Western Bank to bank ethically and dump DSDL," the union announced in a press release.

Today marks the six-month anniversary of a lockout of workers at the Metrotown hotel. The workers were locked out in April after the termination of 97 workers.

The B.C. Federation of Labour has called for a boycott of the hotel, and other groups and organizations – including the B.C. Teachers' Federation, CUPE BC and the Canadian Labour Congress – joined in a rally in Burnaby in August in support of the workers.

Workers also held a rally outside the South Korean consulate that same month, urging their ambassador to Canada, Keung Ryong Chang, to resolve the lockout. DSDL is headquartered in Seoul.

Hotel workers and allies plan to be on site at the hotel, 666 Burrard St., starting at 3:30 p.m.