Know your unions

In December 1996, the Savoy Group was ordered to pay record compensation of £37,250 to the head waiter at London's Claridge's hotel who, an industrial tribunal had decided, was sacked for belonging to a union.

Fifty years previously, a chef at the Savoy had been fired for organising a trade union. The sacking sparked probably the largest walkout of staff the hospitality industry has ever seen. At the height of the action, 50,000 hotel and restaurant workers were on strike in London alone.

Five decades separate the two incidents, but employers' attitudes to unions in the hospitality industry appear to have remained relatively unchanged.

Generally, employers claim they have no recognition or negotiation agreements with unions because there is no demand from staff for them. The unions claim that staff do not ask for union recognition because of an anti-union posture that employers adopt and because they feel they will be victimised for being members.

Gain a foothold

Over the years, unions have made various attempts to gain a foothold in the industry. The latest comes from the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) which, in January, set up the Hotel & Catering Advice Centre in Lancaster Gate, London. Opening every Thursday afternoon for a trial period, the centre is acting as an information and advice facility for those working in the industry who feel they may have a grievance with their employers or who want to explore benefits of union membership.

"We opened the centre because we think people in this industry need protection and security," says Dave Turnbull, TGWU district officer. "Every hotel in the West End has got one union member, but the management won't know because the workers keep quiet about it."

Lorenzo Cabezuelo, the head waiter sacked from Claridge's, did not advertise his union membership. The company only found out when the union wrote to the management requesting answers to some questions on staff matters that Cabezuelo had been pursuing himself.

"People don't speak up because they are afraid of the management," he says. "When I was sacked, I was going to ask five colleagues to back me, but I decided not to because I did not want them to lose their jobs."

Following the tribunal's decision, Tim Gates, director of human resources for the Savoy Group, denied that the company was anti-union. "We don't know and don't care if our staff are union members," he said.

Since the TGWU centre opened, as many as 12 people have visited each week - hardly overwhelming given the fact that there are a million people working in the industry. But Turnbull is happy. He explains that organising membership in the sector is a notoriously difficult task.

"Between 1983 and 1993 a lot of companies that recognised unions were taken over by those that did not," he says. "One of the first things the Ladbroke Group did when it acquired the Comfort Hotel Group was to derecognise the unions."

Another impediment to the union's attempts to organise itself within the industry is the difficulty of distributing information about joining a union to staff who work in non-unionised workplaces. Firms that have no recognition agreements are unlikely to act as advertisers for such services. Hence, many employees are under the impression that there is no union representing their interests.

But the major handicap to union membership is the industry's high staff turnover. The Hospitality Training Foundation (HTF) reports that in 1992, at the height of the recession, the industry had a total turnover rate of 27%; restaurants at 35%, hotels at 33% and pubs and bars at 34%.

"Staff turnover is the real killer for membership," admits Turnbull. "A lot of people think they are still union members but have not paid their union dues for years. Under the rules, if you are in arrears on your subscription, then you are no longer a member."

Direct debit - paying the membership fee directly from a bank account - has helped maintain membership levels because fees are paid regardless of whether members move jobs. But only 8% of hospitality employees are union members, according to the Government's latest Labour Force Survey (LFS). Only agriculture, forestry and fishing have a lower level of union membership, at 7%.

Michael Gottlieb, chairman of the Restaurateurs' Association of Great Britain and proprietor of Smollensky's restaurants, says: "Not once has an employee asked about joining a union. The demand for unionisation should come from the staff, and I don't see any evidence of that."

Lack of interest

Jeremy Logie, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, believes that the lack of interest from staff stems from the basic characteristics of the sector's workforce, which is largely female and part-time. Although the LFS shows that women are no less likely to join a union than men, membership among full-timers is almost double that among part-timers. Two-thirds of the hospitality workforce is female and 65% work part-time.

"If staff are not happy, then they move jobs rather than campaign for change," says Logie. "We are trying to get the industry on a better footing by looking after our staff and improving employment conditions. If we are successful, then the need for trade unions will disappear altogether.

"Personally I feel that the need for a union is an indication of the industrial relations in a workplace. Staff should be able to express their views democratically without having to pay union dues."

Yet at Thistle Hotels, three unions, the TGWU, general union the GMB, and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), have had a long and cordial relationship with the management. The company even allows the check-off facility of collecting union dues by deducting the fees straight from employees' salaries, a procedure that involves considerable administration and one which many employers have done away with.

"We have worked hard at good relations with all three unions," explains Bill Godfrey, personnel and training executive. "We believe that by establishing a rapport with the unions, the company can conduct its employee relations in a civilised climate. Relations with the unions do not have to be confrontational."

Thistle regards the unions as providing an extra source of information about company policies and employee matters, such as the pension scheme, and being there to assist staff involved in disciplinary or grievance procedures. "It is everyone's civil right to belong to a union if they want and at times they may want to rely on someone that they consider to be independent to help them," says Godfrey.

Donna Covey, GMB national officer for hotels and catering, says many of the firms which recognise unions believe they have better relations with employees.

"Union representatives deal with problems at an early stage, before they get serious. The unions act as a channel for people's grievances," she says. "In medium-sized firms, union reps can also give expert advice on health and safety and equal opportunities issues."

Last September, the EU brought into force the European Works Councils Directive which applies to every company employing more than 1,000 staff in more than one EU state, excluding the UK. However, UK companies are still affected if they meet these requirements. The unions have identified several ways in which the directive could strengthen their presence in some industries and get them a foot in the door to others.

The European Court of Justice has indicated that it is likely to look unfavourably on companies whose works councils omit the unions entirely, unless there is strong evidence that the agreement covers all the workforce without them.

Where there is already a strong union presence, the union reps could almost be guaranteed a seat on the council, if for no other reason than convenience when employees vote for council members.