'Caf.’ staff walk out

Press, 23 June 1978, Page 1

'Caf.’ staff walk out

Students at the University of Canterbury will have to eat at home or take sandwiches with them today and on Monday because cafeteria staff at the university have gone on strike until dayThe 40 staff withdrew their labour after meeting yesterday. They will meet again at 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday. The staff are employed by the University of Canterbury Students’ Association and are members of the Canterbury Hotel, Hospital, and Restaurant Workers’ Union. Mr G. D. Harding, assistant secretary of rhe

union, said the staff at the “caf.” were fed up with messy dishes not being returned by the students to the servery slides. Mea.s were cheap because of self-service, but students were abusing the system by not replacing the dishes after use. There had also been cases of verbal abuse of staff, said Mr Harding. The staff refused to collect the dishes from the tables on Wednesday and members of the executive of the Students’ Association did the work, warning students by leaflets and notices that they might lose the service if their habits did not improve.

Cafeteria staff took similar action last year over the same issue.

Mr Harding said that the staff regretted the action and realised that it was only a minority not co-operating, but it was “a messy minority.” The president of the Students’ Association (Mr M. C. Lee) said the executive was backing the staff. The executive had done its best to make it known to the students that they must return dirty dishes, and there had been an improvement. Food will still be served at the university staff club and the halls of residence.