ABSENT WORKERS

Waikato Times, Volume 131, Issue 21922, 29 December 1942, Page 2

ABSENT WORKERS

RESTAURANT DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCE VARIES Irresponsibility on the part of certain types of employees, principally waitresses and kitchenmaids, is said to have been one of the vexations endured by restaurant proprietors in recent weeks. “ I don’t know what the country is coming to,” said a woman who conducts a dining-room in Hamilton necessitating the employment of a considerable staff. “ One of my girls simply walked out on me when her boy friend got his holidays, and did not come back to work for a month. Another just absented herself for a week and came back without a word of apology or explanation. I cannot discharge them because this is declared an essential industry, and if I got rid of them where would I get others? ” The proprietress went on to remark that when girls stayed away from work the burden fell on their fellow-workers, which made for discontent in staffs. The fact that the public still demanded the same service also made things more difficult. Another woman, the proprietress of a quick lunch cafe, instanced the case of a young woman employee who complained of illness which caused her to absent herself from work for ten days. Yet on nearly every one of the ten days she had been seen strolling about with soldiers and frequenting hotel lounges. Opposite Viewpoint By contrast two other restaurant proprietresses said they had had no trouble at all with their female employees. “Some of my girls have been with me for years; I pay them well above the award wages, I give them a bonus on their individual turnover, and generally treat them right; I stick to them and they stick to me,” said one, and continued with the information that she had had only one girl away for only one day, and that through genuine illness, during the last three months. In the other case the business woman said: “ We are just like one big family here and just wouldn’t let one another down.” Some employers were inclined to blame the manpower authorities. They said that the mere idea that they could not be discharged without a good deal of “red tape” made girls not amenable to ordinary commercial discipline. A reprimand from the manpower people when a complaint was made was “like water on a duck’s back to a certain type of girl.” Manpower Official’s Explanation When approached on the matter an official of the National Service Department said /that the employers were largely to blame for not taking full advantage of all the facilities offered by his department. Labour for industry was admittedly in short supply and regulations had been carefully drafted to meet the position in essential industries. If all employers in an essential industry would act together an unsatisfactory worker in that industry could be suitably disciplined and would not be able to play one employer off against another. The regulations were very comprehensive and were designed to deal with victimisation by employers, lack of discipline by employees or unfairness by either. All parties could rely on the manpower office to do its duty impartially. It was armed with very full powers.