Battery Hotel employees uncertain of future: union president

Bob Johnson

- November 15, 2012 at 21:56:20

@ A Business Man. Your English sure is horrid for such a "successful business man". Good luck with your studies!

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badameli

- November 10, 2012 at 09:13:16

I certainly hope the battery gets shut down for at least a year to do some major renovations. Corrugated metal walls for portable like expansion?!?!? Instead of worrying about the next 5 minutes or shift people have to look at the bigger picture. It was a real shame that the battery could not have been torn down + turned into a real hotel. 2 or 3 years ago I remember there being an RCMP convention there and we had officers fleeing the "hotel" to find other accommodations.

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Anon

- November 9, 2012 at 16:46:57

TIL the hotel industry needs a union for some reason that eludes me. Most of the employees in question make between $11-15 an hour. How in God's name do these people even afford union dues? They may all lose their jobs anyway. I hope the union was worth it.

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The Usual Two or Three

- November 9, 2012 at 14:07:15

It will be turned into expensive condos. You can guess who is behind it.

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  a business man

  - November 10, 2012 at 12:23:12

  I may have posted this already, but I hope they turn it into high end expensive condos. It will add class to the city and generate lots revenue for the government. Everyone ones except the workers, so the greatest good is certainly served.

willy

- November 9, 2012 at 13:35:29

"The president of the union that represents workers at the Battery Hotel says employees are being kept in the dark about the sale of the hotel" Since when are employees privy to details about the sale of a business, you got to love Union Management mentality.

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  a business man

  - November 10, 2012 at 12:20:49

  whenever I am selling of offshoring a company, the employees are the LAST to know. In some cases, they just find out when they show up and the doors are locked. Employees are needed to do their job at every shift. If I were to tell them we were closing, they would leave. Also, this is CANADA. The law said employees are entitled to notice of termination, or pay n lieu of notice. It is up to the employer to decide which to provide. They employee has no say, nor should they. In other cases, I provide employees with excess notice to a) incite them to quit and leave (and get no termination pay), OR b) to negate any notice that a court may award them. So in short, there are many valid and strategic reasons as to why an employer might keep the workers in the dark about selling or closing the business. IT is perfectly legal, and quite smart .

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  Former Employee

  - November 13, 2012 at 15:56:01

  I'm not a fan of unions and was never a participant of Union meetings or mentality while I worked there. BUT I think that when the employees have been there longer than the present owner, they should have full access to information about the place of employment's future, if not some sort of input. The reason why this particular hotel needed a union is because the present owner (soon to be former owner) needed a buffer--he did NOT make good choices to make the Battery a better hotel. He made it worse.

crista

- November 9, 2012 at 13:33:08

who is behind all this ???? how much money has been spent on this historic park over the years, now if some thing goes there and damages the park who pays for the damages the taxpayer,look at the future for our children,all it took was a vote and broken promises,and the ones that wanted some thing out of it got it and we are not only talking about joey????

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observer

- November 9, 2012 at 08:50:42

When do people start taking responsibility for themselves. The hotel has been on the market for two years so if the employees did not see writing on the wall it is their fault. They should have found a new place of employment before now.

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  david

  - November 9, 2012 at 10:08:05

  We are a people long entrenched in the belief that government takes care of everytihng.....government, as incompetewnt as it is, is supposed to save us from our own apathy and indifference. It was Joey's great everlasting gift to us all ---- total, child-like dependence on government.

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  Former Staff

  - November 13, 2012 at 15:52:13

  Not entirely the case, Observer. I worked there and I can state from experience that it's been on the market and then off the market many times over and what it boils down to is that Rick Butler does not know how to run a hospitality enterprise. He's made many destructive decisions and enacted nonsense policies that have turned the Battery into a worse laughing-stock from what it was before. The point is, any time talk of sales have occurred, it was always with the intention of it remaining a hotel and simply "changing hands". The concept of the Battery Hotel actually being shut down was never explored or discussed with the employees.