HOTEL AWARDS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 337, 26 September 1932, Page 2

HOTEL AWARDS

UNliiuAL PdsiTION LAPSING OF AWARD CAUSES UNPRECEDENTED DEVELGPMENT. AN UNSIGNED AGREEMENT. A strahge position, witnout preceent in New Zealand, has developed . ii Ihe l.'censed liot >1 trade over the tvpgos and eonditions of employees. Following the breakdown of the Coniliation Council procoedings, tlie' employees' organisation, the New Ziaiand Hotel Workers' Federation, sent out to all employers in-±he trai-e an 'ihuustrial agreement" embodying hc wag">s and conditiohs finally offei*cd by the employees' representativos n conciliation, with a 'covering lettcr mggcsting that these b6 put into 'ol'ce and obsirv'ed as an award. Now, all hotel-keepers have recaived a eopy of another "agreement" for vages and eonditions, which contains , no signature to indicate its origin, liough it is stated that it has bem tet out by the Lieensed victuallers' ^ssociation in Y/ellington. The terms t contains. are somevvhat better than hose finally offered by the employers n conciliaticn, though they fall shorc )f what the employees wanted.The question of the iritroduction of probationers is the main point at issue betwem the two parties. There s no.ie in the trade at present, and .mployees' repfesentatives eMim that f ihey were introduced as the employers desil'e, 50 per cent. of tho adult workers in the trade woulcl be lisplaced. The document which, it is claimed, has been sent out by the Lieensed Vicmallers' Association, is headed: "Terms and eonditions of employm'ent of the lieensed hotel employees in tho Northern, Taranaki, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland, Canter.>ury, Otago and Southland districts," and it elids by stating, "Tliis agreement shall operate throughout the Northern, Taranaki, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland, Canterbury, Otago and Southland districts." It is claimed in some Labour quar;ers that this docuiiient is misl'eading, as a Dominion agreement can only be made between the Hotel Workers' Federation and the National Association of Hotel Proprietors, and in this .ase the Hotel Workers' Federation was not consultid. It is also stated that many, if not a majority, of the mdividual liotelkeepers do not approve cf the terms contained in the document.The wages offered represent a V per cent. cut in those no\V ruling (tho employees, in conciliation, otfered to take a 5 per cent. cut). Hotel workers now have an interval of 11 hours from the time they stop work at night te he time they start in the moLning. That is, they work eight hours a day in an 18-hour span. The emplojmrs propose, in the document they have sent out, that this interval be cut to 10 hours, in which case the working span woulil be extended to 14 hours. The weekly holiday rcmains the '•ame as at present- -one f.'ll day a week, on full pay. The provision o" one week's holiday after 12 months' j'ervice is also retained, though it is lot stated at what rate the employees are to be paid for this holiday: a present they receive full pay, plus i board and lodging allowance. Overthne, it is proposed, should bc paid on a cash wage basis, with nc. board and lodging allowag ce added. is at present. This would make a bif lifference in overtime rates, but there is a further alteration in these as ■veil. At present the rate is timo ar.d i half for the first four hours, and Jouble time thereafter, but the employers are now offering t.me and ; half for all overtime wcrked. The document proposes recourse to he Arbitration Court in certain cases. cook in a country hotel v/here .here are not more than three workers employed in the estahlishment, 'may be employed at a wage to be ietermined by tbe Court of Arbitralion." As already stated, the question of orobationer workers is the main point at issue. For probationer waitresses, antrymaids and housemaid-waitresses 'he wages proposed are 17s 6d for the first six months, and £1 2s 6d for the ,econd six months, with full pay thereafter. To this the employees' representatives raise the objection, apart from the wages 'offered, that there is no guarantee that the probationer will he kept on after the term of probation, . or even kept on for the seeoncl six months. For male probationers, in the kitchen, the wages offered are £1 for the first six months and 25 s for the second six months. The wages of female probationers in the kitchen arc t'o he decided by the Court of Arbitra- . tion. The present rate for kitchen workers, male and female, is £2 2s 9d. In meantime, the employees' organisation is negotiating for aeceptance of the former's terms.