Court bans striking hotel workers in Vancouver from using sirens to make noise
By The Canadian Press
Picketer injured security guard when blowing horn directly into his ear
VANCOUVER (CP) — A luxury hotel in Vancouver has been granted a court injunction against striking workers using sirens to make noise outside the premises.
The Rosewood Hotel Georgia was granted an injunction in B.C. Supreme Court on Oct. 3 and the judgment was posted online Friday.
Justice Nitya Iyer says in the ruling the hotel provided evidence of an incident in which a member of Unite Here Local 40 injured a security guard by aiming a blow horn directly into his ear.
Iyer says a noise bylaw bans continuous sound exceeding 70 decibels and recordings taken outside the hotel show that noise levels surpassed 85 decibels the vast majority of the time.
She ruled workers can no longer use sirens at all and they must keep sound under 75 decibels when using drums, air horns, blow horns, whistles, speakers, megaphones or other devices.
A separate court ruling earlier this month prevents workers from using air horns, sirens, blow horns and whistles around the Hyatt Regency, Westin Bayshore and Pinnacle Harbourfront, which are also behind union picket lines.
The noisy, weeks-long strike at four luxury hotels in Vancouver may be over as the union announced a tentative contract agreement.
A statement from Unite Here Local 40 says it reached a deal Tuesday with the Westin Bayshore, Hyatt Regency, Pinnacle Harbourfront and Four Seasons hotels.
It says a strike continues at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia.
The statement says the agreement representing about 1,500 downtown workers is groundbreaking and secures significant wage increases over four years, protects workers from sexual harassment and boosts their job security.
