Restaurant Practices Defended

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30406, 3 April 1964, Page 1

Restaurant Practices Defended

Sunday trading by restaurants in Christchurch was simply a matter of supply and demand, and restaurants could not provide this service unless it was well used by the public, said a Christchurch restaurateur yesterday. Mr G. Sussman, proprietor of Gerald’s Restaurant, New Regent street, replied on behalf of himself and other restaurant proprietors to criticism earlier this week from Mr L. Short, secretary of the Canterbury Hotel Workers’ Union, who said that only 3 per cent of New Zealand restaurants were open on Sundays, and that this was giving the public “lip service only.”

Mr Sussman Said that he was a restaurateur of 20 years’ experience, and in this period, both in New Zealand and overseas, he had never

come across an agreement which entitled a union secretary to lay down the law to proprietors as far as opening and shutting their doors was concerned.

“The matter of Sunday trade is purely one of supply and demand. If the demand were there we would certainly supply. 1 have tried Sunday service for 12 months and found it uneconomical,” said Mr Sussman. Casual Staff

“To be able to operate on Sundays we had to employ casual staff whose wages were far too high for the return which they would give. 1 discontinued my Sunday service six years ago, but have never found it difficult to get a decent meal on a Sunday. Only family businesses can afford to stay open on Sundays, and one local restaurant which has given Sunday service for 25 years is now finding the evening meal on that day to be quite uneconomic, nearly as bad as Saturday lunch,” he said. Replying to Mr Short’s criticism that the industry ’s>

was employing “cheap child labour to staff restaurants,” Mr Sussman said that all responsible restaurateurs would oppose this. He said he felt certain that what was meant was the employment of young people between the ages of 16 and 18 who wished to earn some money during the school holidays. “People of that age without any experience cannot possibly earn even the basic wage during their term of employment. In milk bars and similar businesses there is a demand during certain parts of the day which could be filled by these youngsters at a wage of between 3s and 4s per hour," said Mr Sussman. “Not Union’s Business” Mr Short’s references to the cooking of food in tins on top of the stove,, and to the enforcing of local body regulations. embraced matters which were not the business of the union, said Mr Sussman. If he knew of breaches of the regulations, he should report them as a civic duty. “If people want to work i

under these conditions and make their money that way, then it is their own business and nothing to do with the awards,” said Mr Sussman, referring to Mr Short’s comment that toilet facilities in some restaurants were inadequate. Registration Books Mr Sussman said that there was an urgent need for management and labour in the industry to get together for discussions on several topics. These included the provision of registration books to be carried by employees in place of union cards, and the need for revision of the laws regarding the employment of female staff in restaurants after 10.30 p.m. If registration books were carried, employers could endorse therein details of the ability of the worker and references as to his character, he said. The “enormous penalty rates” involved in the employment of female staff after 10.30 p.m. were quite ridiculous in these times and needed urgent revision, he thought.