WORKERS FOR HOTELS

Southland Times, Issue 25618, 10 March 1945, Page 4

WORKERS FOR HOTELS

new scheme next . • SUMMER ■ A new scheme for providing staffs for hotels and boarding houses at tourist resorts in Southland is to be put into operation next summer. Girls in non-essential industries are to be > directed to work at these hotels and boarding houses for periods of two months. The girls will receive their fares to and from the town to which they are sent to work, and, if necessary, their wages will be made up to th'e rate which they normally receive in their usual occupations. In giving details of the scheme yesterday, Mr A. J. Peterson, district manpower officer, said that although the girls were to be formally directed to the work he hoped that the scheme would be worked largely on a voluntary basis, by the girls volunteering for the work. He had already had indications that this would be so as a number of girls had informed him that they would willingly undertake the work under such conditions. They were attracted by the opportunity of a temporary change of work and also by what was something in the nature of a holiday. The fact that the girls were to be directed to the work for only two months was also a consideration. Girls who were directed for longer periods than that or for indefinite periods were apt to become bored and dissatisfied with hotel work. CO-OPERATION SOUGHT Mr Peterson added that the co-oper-ation of employers in the scheme was being sought. They would be given an opportunity to determine which members of their staff could be made available for direction. A roster would be prepared, and thus an employer would know the exact period when he would be without the services of any particular member of his staff, and he would receive ample notice of any member of his staff being directed. Employers would have the right of appeal in the ordinary way, but he was hopeful that they would co-operate in the scheme and thus save the necessity for any appeals. Though the scheme would not come into operation until next November he was prepared to receive now offers from girls in non-essential industries to volunteer for the work, Mr Peterson added. In reply to a question about how the hotels and boarding houses in Southland resorts were placed for staff at present, Mr Peterson said that the majority of the recent vacancies had been filled and he fully expected that all the establishments would be fully staffed for the Easter holidays. There were at present only four vacancies at Queenstown.