HOTEL WORKERS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 54, 27 November 1917, Page 7

HOTEL WORKERS

HALF-YEARLY MEETING,

The half-yearly general meeting cf the botel-bar section of tho Hotel and Restaurant Workers' Union was held in the Trades Hall. The. half-yearly balance-sheet shows assets' amounting to £697 4s. Gd., as against £632 13s. 4d. for the previous period. The Executive Committee reported tliat new awards had been obtained for hotels and for private hotels and restaurants. "The wages and conditions relating to hotels and private hotels were agreed to before Conciliation Councils, and the same conditions applying to restaurants were fougnt out before the Arbitration Court on October 31. . As regards the wages in the restaurant award, as granted by the Court, we have .to express,our great disappointment especially with that part of the award which relates to of the female workers., The report states further that "it will have to bo brought home to the female workers of the union that if any great advantages are to be gained on their behalf they will have to take a far keener interest in their union in the future than has been the case_ m the past, and show to the Arbitration Court that they are not going to be satisfied witn whatever the Court gives them m the matter of wages. It seemed Tidiculous that the Arbitration Court should say a girl can' live on 245. -a week. .The report records sincere tha,nksto Mr. A. H. .Hindmarsh, M.P., for the good work he had done in getting the Shops and Offices Amendment Act passed into law. "This law means that the ceasing hour of work for females in marble "bars and_ other refreshment places throughout New Zealand yill be 10.30 p.m., and, whilst not going as far as we desired, nevertheless it wil prove to be a benefit to hundreds ot our working girls who had to work far later than this hour, providing the Act is administered fairly. The executive has tried, and will continue trying, until these marble bars and refreshment places wlio do Sunday trading are stopped and made to comply with the law of the land, thereby giving.to the workers in these places all iNinday off, and in addition a half-holiday during the week. . . . "Members will notice that during this term we have enrol ed 093 new member? (276 males and 417 females). This goes to show, the activity of the union, and as for the registry office part of our work wo can assure members tliat this dde of the union s activity has not been lost sight of by our officials, It has been appreciated by the members of the union and is or advantage V the employers, especially in the saving of registry office tees, which in the past had to be ;>aid by them. For tho eighteen months ended October 31, 1917, there! were 3460 inquiries' for workers through the union office. The executive desires that tho union should consider the advisaoihty of appointing a lady organiser to work amongst tho girls employed in tea rooms, etc. . "The immediate activities of tl>e union for the future will lie in the direction of obtaining new awards ior "Palmerston North . and Wansanm districts, seeking a review of the Napier and country hotels awards, and ing a now award for the whole industrial district (except Wellington), relating to private hotels and restaurants. Then by legislative action we are intending to seek further improvements in tho" laws which affect the workers of the union, such as 48 hours weekly and other things that the workers cannot got from tho Arbitration Court..as we have tried that way and failed.