Concerns Hospitality Fair Pay Agreement could curb operating hours
Queenstown hospo reps fear their industry will suffer from an impending agreement over workers’ minimum pay and conditions.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment last month signalled workers and employers will be covered by a Hospitality Fair Pay Agreement following new legislation passed last year.
The agreement — to be hammered out in upcoming months by unions and employer groups — will cover everything from wages and penalty rates to guaranteed breaks, holiday pay, meal allowances and bullying and sexual harassment.
Outgoing Pub on Wharf owner Chris Buckley believes having to pay penalty rates — typically, time-and-a-half — for anyone working weekends and, possibly, after midnight, would ‘‘detonate’’ the industry.
‘Detonate industry’: Former Pub on Wharf owner Chris Buckley
‘‘I think that would be seriously detrimental to not only Queenstown but also the whole hospo industry right across the country.’’
Businesses would respond, he suggests, by imposing surcharges, as they do on public holidays, or closing entirely at weekends or after midnight.
It’s just putting more pressure on an industry still struggling to get on its feet after Covid, he says.
‘‘It would unfortunately end up shutting down places, which is a real shame because, like farming, this is what makes the country tick — where you meet your friends, your family, and potential new partner, it happens in a bar.
‘‘I would say a lot of staff would also lose a lot of hours, because next thing [businesses] will go, ‘can’t pay, not going to open, sorry, you know you had 40 or 43 hours, or whatever, last week, it’s only going to be about 30 this week’.’’
‘Pay rates up 20-25% over past year’
Local hospo consultant Grant Hattaway echoes Buckley’s concerns: ‘‘If we follow the Australian route of penal rates on weekends, there’ll be a number of places not opening on weekends.’’
If the government feels hospo needs a fair pay agreement as it’s a low-paid industry, he’s adamant that’s no longer true.
‘‘With accommodation costs in town, very few hospitality workers are getting the minimum wage or even close to it, my guess is rates of pay have risen by 20-25% in the last 12 months, and I may be conservative.
‘‘I don’t know whether the unions or the government are fully aware of the pay rate increases in Queenstown, and the whole
country.’’
Hattaway says if rates go even higher, there’ll come a tipping point for businesses — and also for consumers, faced with ever-higher prices.
‘‘There’s already people charging $8 for a coffee.’’
His only hope is the fair pay agreement is concluded in ‘‘a reasonable manner’’.
‘‘We’re on the back of a very hard three years, firstly from Covid and all the ramifications of that, and then staff shortages, and now, to put icing on the cake, we’ve got this coming up.
‘‘I think a lot will depend if Labour and the Greens get in, this election — I mean, National will probably scrap it.’’
“Almost $58,000 a year for an entry-level position”
Local Hilton hotelier Chris Ehmann says he’s tiring of the constant rhetoric about hospo being low-paying.
‘‘The government sets in place the minimum wage to protect employees, if the country is not happy with the rate, they should adjust it.’’
In Queenstown, because employers have to bring in so many staff from overseas, immigration rules mean they’re on at least the median rate of $29 an hour, he says.
‘‘I’m really shocked I’m hearing hospitality workers are low-paid when they’re getting almost $58,000 a year for an entry-level position.’’
He adds if the fair pay agreement covers other issues like holiday pay entitlement, these are already covered by labour laws.
His HR manager Kirsten Hoger says the problem is having a one-size-fits-all policy for an industry spanning everything from large hotels to coffee carts.
In Queenstown, she notes many employers are offering benefits like accommodation and ski passes ‘‘that are not really being taken into account here’’.
Meanwhile, Julie White, chief executive of Hospitality New Zealand, which has applied to become the bargaining agent for hospo employers, warns higher pay rates and less flexible working conditions ‘‘could lead to shorter operating hours, less work for staff and off-peak surcharges for customers’’.
Darelle Jenkins, her local-based South Island senior regional manager, says they’re creating sector groups to ensure ‘‘we’ve got some good voices around the [negotiating] table’’.
‘‘It would be good to have a broad range of not just sectors but also regions represented.’’
