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Court bans striking workers at Vancouver hotel from using sirens

Rosewood Hotel Georgia granted court order against unionized workers
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Unionized hospitality workers at Rosewood Hotel Georgia started picketing Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019 to back demands for safe and stable work. (Unite Here Local 40 Facebook photo)

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 union says workload, safety and job security are key contract issues at all four locations.

READ MORE: Unionized workers launch ‘open-ended strike’ at three Vancouver hotels

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh walked the picket line with some of the workers in downtown Vancouver on Monday.

The Canadian Press

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