SIX O'CLOCK CLOSING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9720, 24 July 1917, Page 7

SIX O'CLOCK CLOSING

HOTEL WORKERS AGAINST IT THHEB CASE PUT BEFORE PRIME MINISTER. A deputation from the Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union waited upon the Prime Minister (the Right Horn. W. F. Mnssey) yesterday morning to protest against 6 o’clock closing of hotel bars.

The deputation was introduced by Mr John Payne, M.P. for Grey Lynn, who stated that as a Labour man he was naturaly interested in the labour side of the 6 o’clock closing—tho side of the hotel and restaurant workers. If 6 o’clock closing were carried, it would necessarily displace a lot of men tind women who were employed in the .hotels, and that at a time when the Government should see to it that no unemployment should ibe brought about. The Prime Minister had heard ■ tlio various sides of the question, and he did not wish to say much nor to bake up his time unduly; but with regard to bho cry that 6 o’clock closing was needed for national efficiency,, he must say that when the freezing stores were bulging with produce and they had sent bo many men to the front that they had had to form a special division ont of the surplus* the cry for efficiency was not necessary. As to the moral side of the question, he would only say that if £ o’clock closing were brought about the boozer would still get his beer before 6 o'clock'. The men who 'did not get it would be the men who would not, care very much about it any way; so that they would not got in any sense at all at the man who drank for drinking’s sake.

There were 'only two speakers for the deputation—Mr Jackson (president of the Auckland Hotel and Restaurant "Workers’ Union) and Air E. Kennedy (secretary of the Wellington Hotel 'and Restaurant Workers’ Union). "DO THE FAIR THING.”'

“Wc have come to you to-day (said Mr Jackson) to place before you the position and the attitude of the hovw worker® of this country in regard to the 6 o’clock closing pf hotels. 1 would like to, state at the outset , that should the Government in its wisdom decide that it is necessary that 6 o’clock closing closing of hotels should he enforced, the hotel workers ask the Government to do the fair thing, and legislate for the same hours of work as those applying to any shop that closes at 6. If, it is a fair thing to close the hotels , - at 6. then it is also a fair thing to provide for the servants in these hotels, so that they shall not ho thrown on the unemployment market. The hotel workers’ organisations have carefully considered the position, and, after analysing it, are convinced that fully 33 1-3 of the hotel servants of this country would be thrown oiit of work, without any provision for their employment being made in any other occupation, at wages and conditions similar to those under which they are now working. The hotels at the present time are open forT6 hours a day, and the hotel workers’ award makes provision for 10 hours a day; consequently this entails upon the hotel, proprietor the keeping of two shifts. With the introduction of'6 o’clock closing one of these shifts could quite easily be done without; and in some instances (that is, houses that are near big residential _ areas, where the bulk of the business ia done in the evening) it would mean practically all hands going out. WORKERS IN THE TRADE, i “The strength of my Organisation, according to our last returns to the registrar, is 3824. Of this total there are employed in hotels—females 1273, males 700. From my organisation 700 of our. members have gone voluntarily to the front, and quite a lot of these men are now returning, expecting to get their ..positions back again, as it was agreed between, the licensed victuallers in most of’ the towns in' New Zealand that any man who volunteered and returned, should have his position hack again. This it would not be possible to do if the hotels were closed at 6 o’clock. I would likef also to point out that the majority of men now remaining in hotels are married men with families, or men unfit for military service. The > majority of hotel servants are not suitable as . workers except at the class of woi;k they are now engaged , in; and-for these reasons wo ask the Government to take into serious consideration the position our people will find themselves placed in if the Government decide upon 6 o’clock closing, and make no provision for shortening the hours of hotel workers, thus making it impossible for the licensees to dispense with any of their staff. ENGINEERING THE MOVEMENT. “The Prohibition Party, have used certain sections of the public to engineer the sis o’clock closing movement, and have dug themselves in behind these people. You have not seen them in evidence as you did last year. The Prohibition Party have never yet put forward suggestions as to what is to become of the hotel servants should they be thrown put of employment as the result of their agitation. I don’t think they care who Buffers so long as they obtain their ends. They ask for 6 o’clock closing on the grounds of efficiency and economy. The worker in hotels sees around him the more leisured and well-te-do sections of the community who, owing - to the prosperity induced by war conditions, are able to spend money lavishly on their personal desires. Some of this class are amongst those who, from the early closing platform, counsel the workers to greater efforts in economy and efficiency. I merely point this out to show you how > inconsistent these people are in preaching 'economy. 7 Their ‘economy’ means not ‘do as I do,’ but ‘do as I tell you.’ Would the throwing out of employment of a large number of men and women who would he inefficient in other walks of life make for greater efficiency and economy ? “A member of the House has charged the officials (myself included) of the hotel workers’ organisation of being in the pay of the Liquor Party of this country. I want to give that the lie direct. It was a cowardly thing to do to attack officials of an organisation in a place where he knew we have no chance of replying to him. I invito that gentleman to come along to a meeting of either the Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, or Dunedin unions and make that statement to the hotel workers in those centres, and we will see what the hotel work-

ers of this country will have to say to him, PROHIBITION PARTY TACTICS. ‘•Tlie Prohibition Party circularised every trade union in this country, asking them to pass resolutions in favour of six o’clock closing, and it. is owing to the fact that they circularised the trade unions that it has been necessary for our organisation to go to no end of expense tn combating that circular. My organisation circularised practically all of the northern unions in answer to the no-hcense circular; but we found it was not possible to do the same with the South Island; so our organisation decided that it was necessary, in the interests of the hotel workers, that we should interview all those other unions that had not been circularised, pointing out to them what it would mean to the hotel workers of this country ../if six o’clock closing were carried Without making any provision for the workers in the industry In Australia the introduction of six o’clock closing threw thousands of hotel workers out of employment; this despite the fact that the hotelkeepers were working an eight-hour day “I have here, sir, which I will leave for your perusal, a copy of the nolicense circular sent to the trade unions, also a copy of our reply to it, also copies of the replies sent to the no-license people by various organisations. The originals of these copies I will leave in the hands of Mr Payne, M.P. Should the copies he challenged at any time, Mr Payne will be able to produce the original copies for the benefit of the House. “In conclusion, allow me once more to impress upon the Government the fairness of the Hotel workers request, which I referred to in my opening remarks to you, that is*—if it w , a , , r thing to close the hotels at 6 o clock, the same as the shops, then it is also a fair thing that the hotel workers should have the same privileges and the same hours of work as those worked by the shop assistants.” THE FOURTH PARTY. ' Mr E. Kennedy said that the deputation represented a 1 party that had never been much before the public in regard to the issue. Prohibition v. Liquor. The first- and second parties interested in the issue _ were the prohibition party ami the liquor party, the great public formed the third party, and the hotel Workers formed the fourth party—the people who earned their livelihood in the industry ; and it was in their interest that they were present that morning. The prohibitionists said that for the sake of economy. and efficiency„ the hotels must be closed at 6 o’clock; but the hotel workers wanted to say that the fact that they hod been able to send 2126 men to the front out of those engaged in the industry itself showed-that it did not make against efficiency. The Auckland Union, as ' the previous speaker had said, had 1 sent 700 men to the front; "Wellington had sent 840; and the other, branches between them had sent. the. remainder of the, 2126 he had mentioned. That showed that their working in the trade had not hurt, their efficiency, anyhow. The prohibition party did not - care what became of them, or how they lived, as long as they obtained their own particular desires. But, if the declaration of the prohibitionists was true, that 6 o’clock, closing-of hotels would tend to win the war, then they were taking up the wrong attitude. “USING THE WAR.”

If they believed that, they should advocate the closing of hotels altogether, but they did not do that. They were using the war to get in with- their particular nostrum by a back-doorway; and ho wanted to say to some of the politicians, and to one in particular, that the proper way to test this matter was for them and him to resign their seats and fight an election on the Issue. with the one proviso that if 6 o’clock closing was carried they should show how the workers thrown out of employment could be employed under similar conditions, and especially at the same wages as at present. An Auckland Labour man. who accompanied the Auckland 6 o’clock closing deputation, had said that the men and women thrown out of work could be absorbed by other industries; but they could hot be absorbed in that way, because, Unemployment was already rampant enough in the country. without closing one avenue by which people found employment. If the Government were to say. ‘We will close at 6 o’clock,” they held that the demand of the hotel workers - that the .Government. should make provision to absorb everybody.—men, women, and boys—thrown out of work by it was a fair demand. Unless the Government did that, it would be very unfair to the hotel workers. MARBLE BAR RESTAURANTS. In their organisation, added Mr Kennedy, they had also people outside the hotel workers —the people employed in restaurants, tea rooms, marble bars, and so on; and they had very little protection for those people so far as hours were,,concerned. If the Government closed the hotel bars at 6 o’clock, they should close these other places at 6 o’clock too. and do the fair thing. They did not ask, however, that the' Government should close them at 6 o’clock. Legislation was coming down with regard to the restaurants, tea rooms and marble bars. There were no regulations as to hours in snob places. Girls knocked off, some of them at 11.80 p.m., sometimes later, and had to walk home. Girls had been molested in many cases through going home after the trams had stopped. The union asked the Government to give special consideration to the provision in the bill mentioned in regard to knooking-off hours. A member of Parliament, had said that the workers, especially Hie hotel Workers, were used by the Liquor party to combat 6 o’clock closing. That was very unfair, especially when they knew that the only people who had attempted to Use the Labour unions in regard to the issue was the Prohibition party. MR MASSEY’S REPLY. The Prime Minister said that he was very glad 'to have heard what the deputation had to say. Their object in coming to see him had been to ensure that their special interests would receive consideration when the proposed legislation came before Parliament. The fact of their coming there that morning and that he had had an opportunity of listening to their representations, and that they would he given publicity through the press would tend in some measure to effect their object; and, for the rest, he could assure them that What they had said would be placed before Cabipot. The Government was not out to injure anybody, but to act in the best interests of the whole people, and to see that nobody was injured. The Licensing Bill had not taken legislative shape, and Parliament was not yet ready to deal with it; but it would be dealt with in all probability within the next few weeks. What

they had said that morning would not bo forgotten, and other members ,of Cabinet and of Parliament would have an opportunity' of learning what they had said. . Mr Payne thanked the Prime Minister for his courtesy in receiving the deputation, and for his sympathetic reply.