Hotel Workers’ Union Against Meal Break

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31330, 29 March 1967, Page 11

Hotel Workers’ Union Against Meal Break

The Canterbury Hotel Workers’ Union, at the present time, was very strongly against staggered hours or any closure for meal breaks, said the union’s secretary (Mr L. Short) yesterday. The union, he said, had in mind a' liquor hour system that could be satisfactory to all This could not be announced till it had been coordinated by the N.Z. Hotel Workers’ Federation. “My union will make this known later,” said Mr Short. Mr Short said that staggered hours or closure for meal breaks could cause conditions for the workers to deteriorate. "Anything like that must take away from the home-life of the hotel worker,” said Mr Short. “What we would like to do, is to get something worked out that will suit the public, the hotel workers and the hotel trade. “Then we could make these few points known to the Minister of Justice, who would be empowered to bring about the changes.” The hotel workers’ federation, said Mr Short, was prepared to fit in with whatever the public wanted, providing the public recognised that the people who were going to have to give up their social life to give them service in hotels at night would have to be paid. They would have to be given new conditions to go with the proposed new hours. Mr Short said that 22 hotels out of the 66 in Christchurch city and surrounding area already had permits to remain open till 11.30 p.m. to sell liquor with meals. The Canterbury Hotel

Workers’ Union will probably discuss the proposed referendum on liquor hours at its annual meeting on Monday night