Three Bar Stewards At Hornby Club Dismissed

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29994, 1 December 1962, Page 13

Three Bar Stewards At Hornby Club Dismissed

A dispute over the dismissal of three bar stewards at the Hornby Working Men’s Club for failing to wear white coats when on duty had reached a deadlock last night. The position is: The stewards, comprising all the bar staff, were dismissed on Thursday at 5.5 p.m. by the club president, Mt L. T. S. Griffith. They were then working behind the bar. They were not wearing white coats. Two were wearing white shirts, one a light-coloured shirt, and all were wearing ties.

The secretary of the Canterbury Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union (Mr L N. Short) yesterday endeavoured to have the three workers reinstated while the matter was settled by conciliation. Mr Griffith said that the three stewards were sacked and would not be reinstated.

Mr Short announced that his union had declared the club black. Mr Griffith said that the

■club committee had held a meeting last night and that the “position was unchanged.” Mr Short said that a joint meeting erf the executive of the hotel and brewery workers’ union would be held on Monday to consider cutting off the dub’s beer supply. Mr Griffith said that the dub had enough beer in the storage tanks to last about a week. A substantial number of the members who were in the bar when the stewards were dismissed walked out at the dub. These men, mostly freezing workers, said they would not enter the dub again until the stewards were reinstated.

Yesterday afternoon, considerably fewer members were in the bar than on previous Fridays. Some members are seeking a requisition to have a special general meeting of the club with a view to having the stewards reinstated. “Paid Holiday”

“As far as I am concerned, Mr Griffith has no power to sack the stewards. Under the award, they are in the employ of the dub’s secretarymanager (Mr N. K. Bovill). Therefore they are on a paid holiday until they are reinstated,” said Mr Short last evening.

“The dub is black as far as the union goes. If any nonunion men, or committee members without pay, are employed behind the bar, we will cut off the beer supply. These men are workers. The members of the dub are workers. The next move is up to the dub members.” “It is difficult, but the position is unchanged,” Mr Griffith, said last night. “I am a worker, the members are workers, the stewards are workers. “The committee made a rule that the bar stewards had to wear white coats. The stewards had all day to put their coats on. It became a question of whether the members were going to run the club or the stewards. I am a worker, but when I sacked the stewards I was acting as the boss elected by the working members.” Mir Griffith said he was formerly the president of the Roxburgh branch of the New Zealand Workers’ Union, and a staunch unionist.

"When toe workers have employees, as happens in this dub, are toe employees going to run the club or toe workers? It is difficult. The next move is up to the union. The workers on the club committee agree that the stewards are sacked, and that the situation is unchanged.”