HOTEL AND RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES.

NZ Truth, Issue 63, 1 September 1906, Page 5

HOTEL AND RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES.

Deputationise the Minister for Labor.

They Want a Weekly Half-Holiday )

The Minister is Sympathetic.

A deputation from the Cooks' and Waiters' Union, introduced by thq Hon. J. Rigfr M.L.C., \yaited on Ihq Hon. J. A. Millar, Minister for La-« bor, on Monday night last for thai purpose of placing before him thej grievances of hotel and restaurant! employees. The president mentioned! the resuscitation of the Union and! remarked on the almost complete! non-observance of the Arbitration? award of 1902, and the lack of com-» pliance with the Shop's and Offices* Act of 1904. by many employers olj the city, while the Union was m its? moribund condition. He also com-« plained of the meagre assistance re-*.; ceived from the Laibor Department*; by the officers of the Union m theiq 'efforts to secure to its members thet very few benefits that they were, byj; law. entitled to.

One of the members suggested the Minister for Labor would intro-i duce an amendment of the Shops} and Offices Act, during the presenti session, extending the benefit of the) half-hoK'day provisions of that Act! to all hotel, club and restaurant em* ployees m New Zealand. Suchl haif-holi-day was already granted byj law to all employees mentioned inj three States of the Commonwealth^ and it seemed unreasonable that New Zealand should be so far behind} her neighbors m such a matter. The* acknowledged smoothness with whicbj the provision worked m those States! would refute any arguments as to itsv utility m this country. It was quite time, also, he said, that the interests of the female portion of the hoteK servants were legislated for. Iti seemed that the Government m the past had gone but of its way to protect women m other trades but had! left female workers m hotel business severely alone.

The definition of "shop-assistant'*-in restaurants was next brought under the notice of the Minister by aj member of the Union. ' He arguedi that a kitchen hand was as much;;ai "shop-assistant" as. a waiter, and,, therefore, was entitled to the half* holiday under the Act. He complain* led that the Labor Department Would} not prosecute m cases where the* .cooks in^restaurants were not receiving their half-holiday, the Chief InI spector m his report, having stated] ithat he' had received legal opinion that a cook was not ( a. ; shppi assistant within the meaning of thei Act. In conclusion he asked that thei Minister for Labor would issua special instructions to the Department to test the matter itf the lava 'courts.

The president of the Wellington) Trades' Council upheld the views oB the previous speaker and considered! that the Labor Department should, with willingness, help a Trades'' Union known to be m a>, w.eak con* dition, and unable to ettfprce its f in» dustrial award. It seempt; : i% r him^a 'be almost ridiculous, ibr.jHeii.,. Who; worked seven days a ;b??e& J%Q i be there asking for the paltry "cohcessionj--of one half-day off m those seven,, when he, the Minister, and all otherg m the Labor movement had been fon years advocating eight hours a dayj lor five and a-half days a week.

The Minister m reply expressed l gratification at the re-construction ofi the Union. No class of workers, he said, could ensure any benefits; toi themselves unless ■ they combined fintoi industrial Unions. He was: in* ! fulli accord for a weekly half-holiday, but; he could not bring m a single amend-* ing Bill every time some defect on another was found m the different Acts passed by Parliament. How-* ever, it was his intention to redraft} the Shops and Offices Act, so as toi cover up the many weak points of it,, and m the re-draftyng of ■it he would include a provision extending the» half-holiday to all hotel, restaurant! and club workers. If possible , hei would endeavor to get the measures through this session, but he held! out little hope of being able to dot so, as he anticipated the session? wouM be a short one. In the past n as Mr Ripe could testify, it had beem very difficult to get Labor measures through the House on account of thg want of support from members. Hq was prepared to fight for all mattera affectintr Labor ;. but m this mattes of the half-holiday ' he thought thera would be but little difference ofi opinion, and that it would receive the support of all members. .With! reeand to the definition of what constituted a "shop-assistant" he woulif consult the Crown Law Officers and!if they so advised him as the In-* spector had been advised he would instruct the Department to test i.hej matter m the direction, asked fow by the Union. He could assure the Union that the Department was now doing its utmost to see thatj. the Act and award was carefully ob-> served. The deputation thanked tha Minister and then withdrew.