Striking YVR janitors to escalate job action on Christmas Eve | CBC News

Janitors at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), who have been on strike since Thursday, plan to escalate their job action on Christmas Eve, one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2 said its 233 YVR members walked off the job on Dec. 19 and have been without a contract since the end of September.

Negotiations with the workers’ employer, Alpine Building Maintenance, broke down over wages, which are not keeping up with the rising cost of living, SEIU Local 2 said in a news release on Monday.

The union said the cleaners have rallied since Dec. 20 in the airport’s designated demonstration area, Chester Johnson Park, and plan to move their picket line on Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT.

The union did not say where they planned to move it but asked airport workers not to cross their picket lines. 

Standing in front of a union rally at Chester Johnson Park Monday, midnight-shift cleaner Goody Gozun said he hopes management realizes the janitors’ value as washrooms and hallways become increasingly dirtier. 

“We need a fair wage,” he said, adding a living wage in Vancouver is about $27 per hour. “Living here, things are expensive. [Janitors] are paying bills, they’re paying rents, their gas, their food. They have their family to feed. That’s why we have no choice but to strike.”

A spokesperson for Alpine Maintenance said workers voted to reject its proposal but believes its wage offer of $24.55 per hour, with a benefits package valued at $2.50 hourly, was competitive and fair.

“We believe this offer significantly exceeds the industry standards across the Lower Mainland,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement.

“Our priority remains reaching a resolution as quickly as possible and working collaboratively toward an agreement and we are very optimistic we will be back to the bargaining table soon,” they added.

According to SEIU Local 2, its members clean most of the airport, including terminals, bathrooms, hallways, the exterior, and airport operations facilities on both sides of security checkpoints.

A statement from YVR says that Alpine has been prioritizing cleaning passenger-facing areas, through its management, including washrooms throughout the entire facility.

The airport is asking passengers to call them if they notice areas that need cleaning attention.

Jet fuel workers still on strike

Meanwhile, 11 workers who handle jet fuel at YVR are also on strike.

The workers are one of several ways airlines deliver fuel, a Vancouver Airport Authority spokesperson told CBC News earlier this month.

The jet fuel workers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 502, have been on strike since Dec. 12.

They unionized this summer and are still negotiating their first collective agreement with the workers’ employer, SGS Canada.