A kitchen scrap

Press, 25 February 1977, Page 1

A kitchen scrap

Sir Thomas Skinner, president of the Federation of Labour, has become embroiled in a demarcation scrap over the Air New Zealand flight kitchen at Christchurch Airport. He will meet officials of the Federated Hotel Workers’ Association in Auckland today to try to resolve the dispute. He is involved as secretary of the Airline Stewards’ and Hostesses’ Union.

According to Mr C. McCready, the secretary of the Canterbury Hotel, Hospital. and Restaurant Workers’ Union, which is affiliated to the Federated Hotel Workers’ Association,

the trouble has been brewing for several years, but has just surfaced. The dispute is over which union members should do the washing and drying of the dishes used in flights to and from Christchurch Airport.

At present in Christchurch, the restaurant workers do the task, but since the recent installation of a $40,000 automatic dishwashing machine at the Air New Zealand flight kitchen, ground stewards have been claiming that they should do the work.

The stewards cite "Tangere Airport, where stewards have been doing the work for several years.

Mr McCready says that the hotel and" restaurant workers’ award clearly covers the duties, and he says that the Auckland agreement arose from purely local conditions about 20 years ago when the flight stewards were in the Cooks’ and Stewards’ Union.

The meeting in Auckland will try to resolve the dispute. If talking fails, the issue may have to be put to the Industrial Court for a ruling, but there has been no indication yet that the dispute will come to that. About 24 workers are employed in the Christchurch Airport flight kitchen.