Hotel Organizing

Hotel organization began in the 1930s with Hotel Vancouver leading to an unsuccessful strike and both employees and the organizer losing their jobs. These campaigns did not always include all sectors of the work force. HREU led sweeping campaigns to organize hotels in the Vancouver area – achieving the first national agreement in the 1940s. There were strong political views and personalities at play in the 1940s who participated in HREU organization. International organizer Jack Weinberger and Business Agent Bill Stewart were staunch supporters of both hotel and restaurant organization which was orchestrated and achieved by several women, Emily Nutall and May Martin (Leniczek). By late 1947 campaigns and twenty-one hotels were unionized, including the Balmoral, The Georgia, St. Regis, Pennsylvania Hotel.