BUILDING DELAYED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 313, 29 August 1932, Page 7

BUILDING DELAYED

ERECTION OF NAPIER HOTEL HELD UP BY TRADE UNIONS QUESTION OF SHIFTS Napier, Thursday. An obstacle raised by the Wellington headquarters of a number of trade unions will prevent the completion of the new Citerion Hotel by Christmas. With less than five months of the year left it was proposed to employ two shifts per day from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the contruction of the building, and the application was made to six unions to waive the provision in the awards of the Wellington district, of which Hawkes Bay is a part, that overtime must be paid for hours outside the limits of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Of six unions, two eontrolled directly in Hawkes Bay were willing to agree to the proposal, but the other four, each of which has its headquarters in Wellington, refused. One union pointed out the danger of creating a precedent, and another made it clear that any employer or employ ee who agreed would be liable to prosecution for a breach of award. "Four officers are emphatic in stating that the proposals cannot be entertained," was the definite reply of the third. The owners of the new hotel who have let a contract for £19,000 for its construction, have no alternative but to work only one shift daily, despite the fact that Napier has 1200 registered. unemployed, the majority of whom are artisans, who coujd accept employment that would be offering if two shifts were worked.