Monday, July 15, 2024

A Family Affair

For Local 501 member Jerome Santos, being able to work together with his twin daughters at Rogers Arena has been a privilege

By Alison Brown

ROCK’EM SOCK’EM HOCKEY GAMES. Epic concerts. The Rogers Arena in Vancouver plays host to all manner of entertaining events, and Local 501 members, under the management of Canucks Sports and Entertainment, are the ones working behind the scenes to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Jerome Santos, a Local 501 member and steward, immigrated to Canada with his family from the Philippines in 2018. After settling in the New Westminster area, he got a job at the Rogers Arena as a pre/postevent housekeeping crew leader. He was so impressed with the company—and CLAC’s representation—that when his twin daughters, Sharvani and Ricashae, entered high school, he passionately encouraged them to join him at work at the arena.

“As a parent, I’m so thankful that we can all work in the same environment,” says Jerome. “I am so fortunate to work for such a reputable organization, and it’s a privilege we can all work there together.”

As a pre/postevent housekeeping crew leader, Jerome refers to himself and his crew as the night owls.

“We’re the ones who turn the arena around together with the conversions team,” says Jerome. “For example, after a concert, we have to put everything back because a hockey game will commence the next day.”

This includes providing service for the VIP sections of the arena and the executive suites.

“I think my boss enjoys putting me in the VIP sections because I don’t get starstruck,” says Jerome. “These are the crucial, sensitive areas where there are a lot of hockey players, coaches, VIPs. I come from a country where we didn’t have any idea what hockey was about.”

But working at the Rogers Arena and getting to witness the Vancouver Canucks at play has ignited in him a love for Canada’s favourite sport.

“Hockey will stay in my heart forever now,” says Jerome. “I love seeing the action and when the referees let the players hit each other. I appreciate the sport.”

The Santos family has also worked at the arena during some unforgettable concerts with legendary performers, such as Madonna.

“It’s such a privilege to work at the arena and see the stars and luxury of the events,” says Jerome. “I was able to see Madonna! I remember watching her on the TV back home in the Philippines when I was seven or eight years old. My older brothers and sisters loved listening to her music. Never in my dreams would I imagine seeing a Madonna concert!”

Another highlight of Jerome’s career is seeing national treasure Shania Twain.

“Our family loves Shania,” says Jerome. “Her songs are really amazing, and we really enjoyed her show.”

JEROME’S PASSION FOR HIS JOB extended to his twin daughters, who both work as apprentice pastry chefs at Rogers Arena while finishing their final year of high school. Sharvani was the first to get a job there in February 2023, followed by Ricashae six months later.

“I was the guinea pig,” says Sharvani. “I heard about Rogers Arena from my dad, and I brought in my sister in August.”

The sisters work all their shifts together, creating delicious pastries for the suites, clubs, and VIP guests—bite-sized brownies, cake, and ice cream are specialties. They are a natural fit for pastry making because Jerome and his wife used to own a bakery in the Philippines.

“It’s like a throwback to my childhood,” says Sharvani. “The pastries we make here are very different from what my family was making in the Philippines—those desserts tend to be a bit sweeter, saltier, oilier. But I enjoy getting the chance to make the pastries now that I’m older.”

While the sisters have their sights set on higher education—Ricashae plans on pursuing engineering, while Sharvani wants to get her undergrad degree and then get into a pharmacy program—the stability of a good job and CLAC representation is a blessing.

“We’re so happy to have a union there to support us and have access to great benefits,” says Jerome. “I know CLAC has a lot to offer, and I’m glad I’m not enjoying it alone, that my two daughters can enjoy it as well.”

ONE OF THE WAYS JEROME puts his passion into practice is serving his fellow Local 501 members as a steward. Although he admits he became a steward reluctantly in 2019, he’s now proud to support some of the approximately 1,900 members working at Rogers Arena.

“I had some hesitations about being a steward, but now I really enjoy it,” he says. “When I was working in the Philippines, I was part of the management team, so it’s interesting being involved on the other side now.”

That experience has lent him the ability to see both sides of an issue, while supporting the member at all times.

“As a steward, you have to weigh all sides,” he says. “Sometimes, members think we’re just their personal secretary, but we’re not. We’re there to help and assist. And we also have to convey that management is not the villain. Stewards have to be the guy in the middle—it’s like being the referee between two fighting hockey players.”

While one of Jerome’s first tasks as a steward was a trial by fire with a case investigation, he remains a dedicated steward and enjoyed his time attending CLAC’s National Stewards Conference in November 2022, which celebrated the union’s 70th anniversary.

“It’s been really thrilling—being a steward and bringing my daughters on board. I’m so thankful we get to experience it as a family.”

Vogue (Strike a Pose)!

Madonna’s 1990 hit song “Vogue” topped the music charts in the early ’90s and spawned the “voguing” dance craze on dance floors worldwide. Many credit Madonna with bringing voguing—a highly stylized modern house dance inspired by model’s poses in fashion magazines—into the mainstream.

Voguing originated in the queer, Black, and Latine-led ballroom scene that took shape in the 1920s’ Harlem Renaissance and remained an underground artistic movement well into the 1980s and ’90s. According to legend, Madonna attended a “Love Ball” AIDS fundraiser event in Harlem—the judges of which included Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and supermodel Iman—and was inspired by the campy, exaggerated gestures of the ballroom dance scene.

While there has been much debate about whether Madonna’s efforts were cultural appreciation or appropriation, her song (and David Fincher-directed music video) brought a subcultural movement into the zeitgeist at the height of the AIDS crisis—a time when that very culture was scorned and demonized.

Sources: National Museum of African American History & Culture, vogue.com

Sharvani Santos, Jerome Santos, Ricashae Santos

A Family Affair

Vogue (Strike a Pose)!

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