Refurbish our wages too say Rendezvous hotel staff

Refurbish our wages too say Rendezvous hotel staff

Workers at the Rendezvous Hotel in Central Auckland say their employer needs to refurbish their wages and conditions, not just the hotel.

The loyal and long-standing staff have not had a payrise for more than two years, and although their employer has made an offer, this is conditional on cuts in the workers terms and conditions.

"Rendezvous is offering our members a miserable 1.5% payrise for two years, and they are trying to take away sick leave, affordable parking and subsidised health care," says SFWU Northern Regional Secretary Jill Ovens.

"For most of our members the payrise would be worth only 20 cents an hour, but yet the company is expecting them to trade-off a lot more in return."

Rendezvous housekeepers are exhausted from having to do 18 rooms a day - three more than most hotels expect.

"They need all the sick leave they have now."

Ms Ovens says these workers are fed up of being taken for granted.

"We have been told that their Australian company which owns Rendezvous may be fronting up with money for refurbishments to the hotel (which they don't actually own), and yet they aren't willing to invest in their staff properly."

"Our members will not agree to give up their existing conditions, and are prepared to do whatever it takes to win this." says Jill Ovens.

Notes for editors

• The Rendezvous leases the hotel from CDL Hotels
• After almost two full days of bargaining the hotel refuses to withdraw their remaining clawbacks tabled which include: reducing sick leave entitlement by 1 day, removing the transport clause which allows members discounted parking at the hotel and grandparenting the subsidised health insurance.
• The Rendezvous has offered the SFWU members a 1.5% pay increase over two years on the proviso that a number of existing entitlements are withdrawn.
• SFWU members might be willing to agree to the 1.5% payrise for one year (despite it being below the CPI), but are not prepared to accept the clawbacks, and will not agree to a second year in the term of the agreement without a payrise.
• In 2002, SFWU members took industrial action for a whole day to get a fair pay increase.

ENDS

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