HOTEL EMPLOYEES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22657, 19 February 1937, Page 10

HOTEL EMPLOYEES

ALLOWANCES FOR MEALS NEW AGREEMENT REACHED Discontent among hotel workers over allowances to those who do not live on tho premises has been removed by an agreement made in Wellington between tho Hotel Workers' Federation and the national council of the. Licensed Victuallers' Association. Mr. F. G. Young, secretary to the Auckland Hotel Workers' Union, returned from Wellington yesterday with the information that barmen, barmaids, cellarmen, bottle-store hands, male general hands and day porters in Auckland hotels may sleep and have their meals off the premises, receiving the award wage and 30s allowance for board and lodging. The agreement covers all hotels wiUiin a 10-miles radius of tho Chief Post Office at Auckland. Tho position in country areas will be dealt with in a few weeks, when the new award will be considered. In other metropolitan areas the terms of tho now agreement will becomo operative on April 2. Previously, the award permitted employers to chooso whether they would supply meals to employees who lived off tho premises, or make them a cash allowance. Employers at the larger hotels preferred in tho majority of instances to give meals to their resident staffs, as well as those who lived oil' the premises. As the award assessed meals at £1 a week, this deduction from their wages gave rise to dissatisfaction among einployeea.