A STORM IN A TEA SHOP.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 129, 30 May 1908, Page 11

A STORM IN A TEA SHOP.

A brisk little drama of unofficial trade unionism has just been enacted by the waitresses, kitchen girls, scullerymaids, and "tweenies' , of the "Cabin" Restaurant, Piccadilly. They have scored a very gratifying success. The performance extended over several days, and the "scenario" was somewhat as follows: —

Prologue: The "Cabin" Restaurant, Piccadilly. Time, Saturday afternoon, when the restaurant was crowded with customers. At a given signal the whole of the waitresses put down their trays and went on strike. Their grievance was the appointment of a new manager, who is said to have threatened wholesale dismissals, and who did dismiss, one of the girls. The staff declared that the girl had been dismissed unjustly, and they demanded her reinstatement. Mr. Frankenberg, the managing director of Cabins, Ltd., was sent for; and ended the strike by reinstating the discharged waitress, and guaranteeing her colleagues three months' continuity of service. It was all over in 20 minutes. Work was then resumed.

Act l.: The "Cabin," lunch-time, four days later. Miss Ware, a pretty, fairhaired girl, who had been elected spokeswoman by her colleagues, gave a prearranged signal. Its effect was most dramatic. Every waitress put down her tray and dropped her bills. Down in the kitchen the signal had the same effect. Only waiting to turn off the steam, the chef, in his white cap and apron, led his staff up to the ground floor in triumph, where the white-robed procession was received with a burst of cheering. In vain the customers, of whom there were some hundreds present, clamoured for the lunch they had ordered. Not another dish was served, not another bill made out. Ten minutes later Mr. Frankenberg, who had been telephoned for, arrived in a cab. Miss Ware met him at the entrance. In her hand she held a type-written document.

"I have to ask whether you will sign this document, the terms of which were conveyed in a letter which you received from the staff this morning," she said.

"Certainly not," replied Mr. Frankenberg; "you are dismissed." "Then we will all go," cried the strikers, girls and men. Cheers for the strikers were called for, and the girls gathered round their leader and demanded the money that was due to them. Mr. Frankenberg asked the customers to withdraw, but Miss "Ken" Ware, the leader of the strikers, appealed to them to remain and listen to the girls' side of the case. Mounting a chair, she addressed them in a clear, ringing voice. "To-day's movu. I would like you to know," she said, "has been well thought out by business women. It was not done or in the excitement of the moment. "Does the public know that we waitresses work 12 hours a day, and that we are paid 6/9 a week, and 'no gratuities' is printed on the menu? "We have no money and no trade union at our back, but we are going t" be loyal to each other. We are Englishwomen, remember, not foreigners. , "I am no leader; I am just speaking on behalf of those who work with mc," Mies Ware concluded, amid the cheers of her audience. Enthusiasm of the customers, charmed by the eloquence of "Ken." Futile efforts of the management to run the restaurant with a "blackleg" staff. Doors closed at 4 p.m. Curtain. Act II.: Outside the "Cabin" next day. The restaurant opened in tße morning as usual, 'with a staff recruited from. "C4bin" branches in other parts of the cown. The strikers paraded outside, distributing handbills and urging customers not to enter the Cabin. Public sympathy appeared to be with the girls. "Don't toe hard on them, constable," was the remark addressed by passers-by again and again to the policemen who kept the girls and their supporters moving on. Offers of help for the strikers flowed in {from many eoercee. Contributions td putt tbe ttrito ftmd daring

totalled £80, among the contributions being one of one shilling sent by "A policeman on duty near the Piccadilly Cabin." The Women's Freedom League and the Women's Trade Union assisted to organise the strikers' plans, and Malcolm Scott, the comedian, retailed their grievances that night at the Pavilion Music Hall, and appealed for public sympathy on their behalf. He wound up by introducing Miss Ware to the audience. Curtain. Act III.: "Ken's Cabin," Bromptonroad, four days later. Subscriptions poured in so fast to the strike fund that the girls soon found themselves with nearly £400 capital. This enabled them to open a restaurant of their own in and they called it "Ken's Cabin," in honour of their leader, Miss Ken Ware, who has been installed as manageress. Onlj' one room had been furnished on Monday, the. 'opening^.day, but between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m. over 1000 customers were served, and £<X) was taken in cash. The first customer paid 10/ for a glass of lemonade, and refused to take any change. At noon there was an opening ceremon}', and the customers sang "God Save Our Ken." The crowd stretched right across the pavement, and a party of ladies in a motor car, finding that the "restaurant was full, had tea served to them in the car, to the delight of the crowd. The new restaurant is being run by the strikers on a co-operative basis, and they are doing so well that another branch will probably be opened in Leicester Square this summer. Thus ends one of the shortest, pluckiest, and most successful strikes on record.