LONDON HOTELS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26078, 15 February 1946, Page 5

LONDON HOTELS

CHARGES DENIED MINISTER OF LABOUR ANSWERED (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 13. The general manager of Oddenino’s Hotel and Restaurant referred to by the Minister of Labour, Mr George Isaacs, has issued the following statement:—“The staff of their own accord and freewill have signed a statement that their conditions of employment have been exemplary. They have never entered into any agreement of service restricting their association with any trade union.” The Hotels and Restaurants’ Association has issued a statement expressing astonishment at Mr Isaacs’s attack. It considered an apology was due to the association, and denied that there is or ever has been any agreement among hotel proprietors to prevent their staffs from joining a trade union if they wish to do so. West End hotels where, “if there is a suggestion that you own a trade union ticket, you are out on your neck,” were attacked in the House of Commons by the Minister of Labour, Mr George Isaacs. An uproar followed his refusal to name more than one hotel. He said he had communicated with the hotels concerned, and told them that unless they put matters right he would show them up. He added that he was determined to get them to come to a settlement. Mr Isaacs went on to say that there was an organisation of employers banded together to prevent workers joining unions.