HOTEL WORKERS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1785, 25 June 1913, Page 10

HOTEL WORKERS.

THEIR DAY OF REST. i DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER. "SQUARE DEAL " THIS SESSION. A deputation of delegates at present attending the Hotel Employees' Federation Conference in "Wellington waited upon the Hon. W. F. Massey, as Minister for Labour, yesterday to ask for certain •amendments to the Shops and Offices Act. They sought a statutory holiday of one day in every week, not necessarily Sunday, for hotel and restaurant employees, and a statutory reduction of houx-s of work. ifr. A. H. Hindmarsh, M.P., introduced the deputation.

.Mr. E. J. Carey said the deputation had ccmc again to urge that the hotel workers should have a legislative holiday on one day a week. Tlie.y were prepared to prove that the scheme would be quite workable. The proposal had been before the Hou=e since 1009, and lmd always been favourably reported from the Lalxmr Bills Committee. Last year the Committee had been unanimous in declaring for the Bill submitted to 'them, but tho \Bill did not come before tho House. Because tho Prime Minister had given a promise to one individual, or possibly to more than one, the hotel workers had' been practically deprived of the holiday that was then about to be given to them, for they knew that if the question of granting a day's rest in seven were left to the Hous(? to decide there would have been a teu to one majority in favour of it. They felt then that they had a real grievance— that the Prime Minister had acted, he would not say unfairly Mr. Massey: You had better not. Mr. Carey assured Mr. Massey that he had not used the word in an offensive sense. The hotel workers asked, he said, that this year the Prime Minister would make no such promise, but would allow tho business to be settled by the House. • Of the three candidates in the Grey election the Reform candidate and the Labour candidate had already' declared in favour of this, and he had no doubt that tho Opposition candidate would yet send a similar reply to the telegram addressed' to him. As a result of the disappointment of last year, there had been talk oE other action ■by the hotel workers, but the advise of leaders of the unions had prevented reckless aotion. Now, after nine months of good behaviour, they repeated their request. This year they would ask for further amendment of the Act to provide for a SG-hour week for men and a fiO-hour week for women. It might be urged that they were entitled to the 8 hours' day, conceded to other workers, but they realised that this would be, perhaps, too big a departure from present custom.

Time Shests and Wages Books. Mr. A. S. Richards spoke of the keeping of time-sheets and wages-books. Grave dissatisfaction existed among hotel employees concerning the keeping of these books, because when disputes aa-ose about tho hours worked the tactory inspectors were perhaps not attainable to settle questions at issue. In Western Australia the practice of allowing sscretaries to inspect timo and wages-books worked very well, and if this were allowed here the' secretaries would be able to do • the work much more efficiently and quite as fairly. With all due respect to the inspectors i)f tho Department, the employees would .approach the secretaries of their unions with more confidence and satisfaction than they would the inspectors. Mr. J. Haymes urged that boardinghouses and clubs should be brought under tho scopo of the Act. Workers in these places worked very often as much 'as 100 hours per week, and many of these board-ing-houses served' occasional meals, and took in occasional boarders, carrying on, in fact, tho sumo business as hotels and restaurants.

Mr. Young, of Rotorua, said that probably ho came more in touch with the boarding-house business than most other .unionists in. New Zealand. Tho award obtained at Rotorua had worked satisfactorily in the boarding-houses there for two years, but he urged that t'lio workers in these establishments should have the same privileges uiider the law as workers ill hotels. The Minister's Reply. Tho Minister, replying, spoke first of the dropping of tho Bill , of last session. The. Bill had given placo to much more urgent .business, and, had been held back' until late in tho session. It had been introduced and sent to tho Labour Bills Uttiiimittee, but, while evidence was being taken by tho committee, it became apparent, from the number of telegrams received from 'the proprietors of small hotels and others, that if tho Bill wore rushed through without sufficient consideration, there would bo danger of serious injustice being done to several sections of tho. community. To this he could be no party. He had informed the House that he would .withdraw the Bill, and introduce a more comprehensive measure the next session. The Bill was now printed, and it would be submitted to tho Houso early in tho session, probably during tho first week. He did not supposo the Bill was- perfect, or that it would please everybody interested, but he would give everybody an opportunity of being heard beforo the Labour Bills Committee. Ho had promised the hotel workers a stjuaro deal last time they had come to him, and they were going to get it.

Barmaids, And Registry Offices, Mr. Carey then introduced two other matters which he asked the Minister to consider—registry office fees, and the Barmaids' Registration Bill. He asked that the Minister should not give way to the representations of registry-office keepers, asking that the old rates of charges be restored. Referring to tho barmaids' legislation, ho said that a recent decision of the' Supreme Court had made tho Act a nullity. The effect of the Supreme Court judgment was that if there was no public bar in an hotel, unregistered barmaids could be employed in privijte bars in that hotel. gHe believed there was only one public bar in Wellington, so that tho Act. was worthless. The Act being defective, it was the duty of Parliament to give effect to the obvious intention of the Act by amending it. Mr. Massey said the Supreme Court hail declared that the Act did not give effect to the intentions of Parliament, and in view of this he thought it was the duty of Parliament to make the Act effective. Personally, he thought it rather a pity that tho point had been raised by those concerned in the way it had been. Mr. Carey:' Hear, hear. Mr. Massey said the inquiries that had been made about registry offices had led him to believe that there were many keepers of offices who tried to observe the Act and the regulations, but that there were others who systematically evaded it. It should be remembered that the keeping 'of registry offices afforded a means of livelihood to widows and people of that class who might have difficulty in earning a livelihood otherwise.. The present schedule of fees was not giving satisfaction lo registry office-keepers, am] he'proposed to look into - the matter. He thought it might be possible in any action the Government might take to discriminate between people who did business properly and those who did not. As long as there was a willingness on the part (if office-keepcra to divide the fee fairly between employer and employee he would safeguard their interests, but the idea he'had in .mind was that the issue .of a license would depend upon the spirit of the Act being complied with, and a fair tiling being done by both employer and employee. The matter had been referred to the T.abour Department, hut the Department not yet made any recommendation. _ Tf a registry officekeeper did/his business prop»rlv he had a rialit to be paid for his work. Mr. Cnrev: Admitted, sir; hut what about tho employers? | Tlie.v don't pay fees.' "■Mr. Massey: I am going lo see to that.

Mr. T. Long, president of the conference. thanked" the Mjnister for having received the deputation. THE CONFERENCE, PROCEEDINGS yesterday. . The annual conference of the lintel Employees'' Federation wa-s continued in the Trades Hall yesterday. ' Piscussion ffas ■ resumed on tho Wcl-

lington proposal that tho executive should re-main in AVellington until the House had disposed of the promised holiday Bill. Auckland delegates objected strongly to tlin proposal, and after a long discussion ihe following resolution was carried:— "That the Wellington execntivo be tho advisory committee of the Federation to act in conjunction with the executive of tho Federation in the promotion of the Bill, and its passage in tho House, and, in (conjunction with the executive, to take such action as shall be agreed upon by the committee and the executive on all matters pertaining to the success of the Bill and its improvement." The Gisborne and Napier delegates moved remits from their respective branches urging amendments of the Shops and Offices Act to permit of union secretaries inspecting holiday and time books in hotels. The proposals were adopted. Jlr. Moss (Napier) moved a remit advocating remedial legislation to provide that workers in clubs, private hotels, and large boarding houses should be gov-i erned by statutory regulation in tho same manner as are similar workers in hotels and restaurants. The remit: was carried.

The Auckland delegate, referred to the shortage of factory inspectors in the northern industrial district, and itrg;d the conference to recommend, the Government to appoint additional inspectors for that district. The proposal was adopted, and the incoming executive were instructed to placo tho matter before the. Minister for Labour by letter. .Mr. K. J. Carey (Wellington) stated that the Arbitration Court had in the past held that residential clubs-were not establishments carried on for pecuniary gain, and that therefore they could not be bound by any award of the Court. lie suggested that the conference should urgo that the Arbitration Act be amended to ensure that clubs bo regulated by tho provisions of awards in the'same way as hotels. This supgrstion was approvetl. Mr. D. Conchie (Wanganui) moved the following remit: "That the conference express its confidenco in Mr. J. A. M'Cullougli as workers' representative on tho Arbitration Court, and recommend his reappointment at the end of the present lerm." The motion was supported by several delegates and carried unanimously. The Gisborne branch forwarded a remit urging that the constitution of the Arbitration Court be altered to provide for some person other than a lawyer bring president of the Court. The remit found no supporters except the mover and secondtr, and was therefore lost. Tho conference will resume this morning. '