Hotel Strike May Be Extended To Today

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32351, 17 July 1970, Page 1

Hotel Strike May Be Extended To Today

(By Our Industrial Reporter! It is almost certain that Christchurch hotels will be without workers from 2 p.m. today and all day tomorrow. They are expected to decide to strike at a stop-work meeting this afternoon.

The Christchurch members of the Canterbury Hotel Workers’ Union will hold their stop*work meeting at 2 p.m. in the Civic Theatre.

The Hotel Association of New -Zealand yesterday held its wage offer to the previouslyreported 15 per cent and declined to give any undertaking on other concessions.

Not only are the unions expected to reject this offer, but they are likely to regard it as a challenge and to extend their planned strikes. The next moves will be decided today at meetings of hotel workers in Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Rotorua. There is a definite prospect that no hotel worker in any of these centres will report back to work before Sunday. The workers in the other four centres were all holding a one-day strike today but in an unusual move had decided to meet today to consider the employers’ offer from yesterday’s negotiations. This action was taken be cause some North Island union officials believed the employers would lift their offer to 20 per cent and would agree to paying double time for Sunday work and to providing three weeks annual leave from the start, instead of after five years. ‘Let Down’ "Whatever the basis for this belief, the officials—and the union members —are likely to feel let down. Wednesday’s proposal in Wellington that their workers might return to work this afternoon as a gesture of good faith is likely to be replaced by the earlier mood of bitter determination that kept the Wellington hotel workers on strike for four days last week.

While the hotel workers are still nominally asking for a 30 per cent wage increase, it seems definite enough that

they would accept 20 per cent with the other expected concessions. However, recent increases and present conditions in comparable occunations give them strong reasons for not accepting less. In declining to lift their offer at the present stage, the employers’ negotiators appear to be postponing the in-

evitable at the certain cost of further strike action. ■ The chief executive of theii association (Mr J. J. Wil liams) said in Wellington yesterday that the 15 pel cent offer would mean the following guaranteed mini mum increases on award rates for a 40-hour, Monday to Friday week: barmar $5.48 live out, $4.26 live in; waitress $4.13, $2.91; kitchen hand $5.25, $4.04; porter-bar-man $5.19, $3.98. “In addition to these increases the penal rates fot

t overtime or Saturday or Sunday work would also be in- - creased by a minimum of 15 . per cent,” he said. ■ Example Given As an example of this, a ’ barman living out and who ! works on Saturday, as part of his normal 40-hour week, would receive a guaranteed 1 minimum increase of a fur- ' ther 15c an hour. Mr Williams said the H.A.N.Z. offer was for immediate renegotiation of the award and !n this respect the employers were prepared to commence negotiations next week.

“H.A.N.Z. is anxious to settle the dispute because of the loss of revenue it can cause the country through the effect on the tourist industry and the public generally, but it must adopt a responsible attitude in the matter, because any increase in overheads must result in increased prices,” he said. “It should also be emphasised that the offer of 15 per cent was a minimum for negotiations to commence, but the union would hot accept this as such.”