Strike by hotel staff ‘inevitable’

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 1

Strike by hotel staff ‘inevitable’

By

NIGEL MALTHUS

Canterbury Hotel Workers will be on strike in support of their wage claims as early as Friday or Saturday this week. The secretary of the Canterbury Hotel and Hospital Workers’ Union, Ms Lianne Dalziel, said yesterday that a stoppage appeared inevitable. A date had not been decided, “but obviously we’ll be looking at the busiest day of the week,” she said.

Their award talks collapsed in Auckland last week, with the union claiming a $4O a week pay

rise, bereavement leave, a $5 unpleasant duty allowance, and increases in the T.A.B. and shoe allowances.

Employers offered a 7 per cent pay rise and an extension to bereavement leave, but in return sought more flexibility in the employment of part-time staff.

Canterbury union members have voted for a series of oneday strikes and also plan to strike on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. Workers in other areas, including Queenstown, Dunedin, Invercargill, Wellington and Taranaki,

have voted for similar action or work bans.

Workers elsewhere will decide their response today. Ms Dalziel said that it was not the members’ intention to disrupt people’s Christmas celebrations, but action would continue through Christmas and beyond if need be.

The employers’ advocate, Mr Paul Bell, said hotel employers were “pretty relaxed” about the prospect of industrial action. Management policies would ensure normal services to 'patrons would continue.