On 3 August a dozen staff from Gateway Hotel were locked out following strike action. The staff had been trying to get a collective agreement with the new owner, Rakesh Sharma, who took over the business last November.
First off Sharma sacked a waitress who was five months pregnant. She said she was told by the new manager her pregnancy was a liability and she should stay home. The regular staff had their hours cut, and their roles downgraded and a troupe of Faulty Towers characters were brought in to run the show.
All efforts by the union to get a collective agreement were ignored by Sharma. Mariana Rakuraku, a delegate at the hotel, says that management were telling staff to leave the union and kept trying to undermine efforts to start negotiating a collective agreement.
Fed up and frustrated with the boss’ tactics, some kitchen and restaurant workers took a wildcat strike on 1 August. The next day they were joined by more staff, including the cleaners, and they voted to stay out several more days. The employer then locked them all out and said they couldn’t return to work unless they accepted a collective agreement which offered less than the legal minimums. Many of the staff are long serving; such as Ti Tehani, a delegate, who has been at Gateway for 14 years. Another is Vince Sweet, the chef and a delegate, who has worked there for 10 years.
Most staff are paid only the minimum wage, with no recognition of service or skill. Even experienced staff are paid well below industry standards. Worse still, is the situation of the cleaning staff. The Labour Department is investigating claims that they are being paid less than the minimum wage.
During the first few days of the lock out the boss brought in workers from a neighbouring hotel, in a clear breach of employment law. He also got a friend to help with the work, but the man quickly left when he realised he was scabbing. He was genuinely horrified and apologised to the workers on the picket line.
The employer then threatened to ‘restructure’ and contract out the kitchen and restaurant work. Every day of the lock out he has called the police, and on 16 August the staff were issued trespass notices, although only the delegates had come on to the site with union officials to inspect for outside workers, as they are entitled to do.
While Nora, who was sacked for being pregnant, waits for months to have her case heard; and while the Labour Department gives the employer 6 weeks to supply wage and time records for six staff, the force of the law is used swiftly against the workers.
Workers rarely get justice through the ‘justice’ system. Our only chance of justice is when we stand together to fight for our rights. The workers at Gateway have declared that they will stand up and fight as long as it takes. Ask them how long they will stay on the picket line and they answer – one day longer than the boss!