Northern Hotel, Hospital, Restaurant and Related Trades Employees’ Union records.
Scope and Contents
Covering the period 1911 to 1990 the collection includes minutes, financial records, copies of awards, court rulings, correspondence, and an extensive run of the Union’s official publication Flashlight. While the collection is relatively large, it is clear that these are not the complete records of the Northern Hotel Workers Union but rather a fragmented set which have survived several changes in the Union’s physical address and administrative practices. Some of the files from the 1930s and 1940s had obviously been selected by the Union for retention and were received labelled ‘archives’ and had been wrapped in brown paper.
Originally the collection also contained several reels of film footage, including a copy of the 1941 musical comedy That night in Rio, still in its Twentieth Century Fox cardboard distribution box complete with postage stamps postmarked 1946. It is possible that the film was used by the Union for a social evening and never returned. The other two reels comprised a copy of the 1980 documentary The hammer and the anvil: a trade union history of New Zealand, produced and directed by Gerd Pohlman. Preservation and storage issues meant that it was impossible to retain the original reels of film, however, a digital copy of The hammer and the anvil: a trade union history of New Zealand of has been obtained on CD for the collection (see item 10/1).
Dates
- 1911 - 1990
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
PARTLY RESTRICTED – Permission of the Special Collections Librarian is required for access to all records less than 30 years old. Access to material over 30 years old is unrestricted, except where records are restricted for reasons of confidentiality and privacy. These items are restricted for a period of 70 years from the date of creation, and are indicated in the inventory.
Administrative History
The Northern Hotel, Hospital, Restaurant & Related Trades Employees’ Industrial Union of Workers was originally known as the Auckland Hotel, Restaurant and Related Trades Employees’ Industrial Union of Workers. The Union was first registered in 1908 and was responsible for staff working in licensed hotels, private hotels, tearooms and restaurants. During the 1930s domestic hospital workers were included in the Union’s area of responsibility and the Union’s name changed to reflect this.
The Union’s membership included workers who came under the following industrial awards; Hospital Domestic Workers (Public and Private Hospitals), Private Hotel Employees, Licensed Hotel Employees, Charted Club Employees and Tearoom and Restaurant employees. The range of jobs undertaken by workers covered by these awards was extensive, and included cooks, waiters, waitresses, pantrymaids, laundresses, barmen, stewards, wardsmen, porters and cleaners.
In 1985 the Union changed its name to the Northern Hotel, Hospital, Restaurant & Related Trades Employees’ Industrial Union of Workers. The new name better reflected the geographical area represented by the Union which stretched from Kaitaia in the north to Taumarunui in the south and included Gisborne in the east.
In May 1991 the Union amalgamated with the Service Workers Union of Aotearoa (Northern Branch). Shortly before this amalgamation the Union had absorbed the Auckland Dental Assistants and Technicians’ Union and the New Zealand Musician’s Union.
Throughout its history the Union was one of the largest unions in Auckland and even in New Zealand, in 1990, for example, the Union had approximately 24,089 members. The fact that from the outset the majority of the Union’s members were women was also unusual.
From the 1930s onwards the Union was affiliated with the New Zealand Federated Hotel, Hospital, Restaurant and Related Trades Employees’ Industrial Association of Workers. Representatives of the Union attended the Federation’s National Conference and sat on the Federation’s Executive. In particular, Frederick G. Young and George Armstrong were simultaneously secretaries of both the Auckland Union and the Federated Association for long periods of time; a situation that is reflected in the contents of the collection which includes records created by both the Auckland Union and the National Association.
Fryer, G. J (Glenda Fryer), Auckland Hotel Workers, 1908 – 1914. Unpublished MA research essay, University of Auckland, 1976.
Harbridge, R. and K, Hince (Raymond Harbridge and Kevin Hince), A sourcebook of New Zealand trade unions and Employee organisations, Industrial Relations Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, 1994
Extent
8 metres (16 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Location
In off-site storage. Expect delay of 12-24 hours from time of order.
Provenance
The collection was donated to The University of Auckland in February 2004 by the Service and Food Workers Union. The records formed part of a larger, mixed donation of archival material comprising records from the various unions which amalgamated to form the Service Workers Union during the early 1990s.
- Labor unions -- New Zealand -- History -- Sources
- Northern Hotel, Hospital, Restaurant and Related Trades Employees’ Union -- Form subdivision--Archives.;
- Title
- Inventory of the records of the Northern Hotel, Hospital, Restaurant & Related Trades Employees' Industrial Union of Workers, 1911 -1990.
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Katherine Pawley.
- Date
- 2010
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections, University of Auckland Repository
5 Alfred Street
Private Bag 92019
Auckland 1142 New Zealand
specialcollections@auckland.ac.nz