"When one comes to think of it, it is strange that thousands of people in a great modem
city should spend their waking hours swabbing dishes in hot dens underground" - George
Orwell, Down and Out In Paris and London. ---- The cook is one of the oldest professions.
The process of collecting, preparing, cooking and finally sharing food is inherent to the
human condition. It is a ritual of union, based on a need, made into a defining
pleasantry. But under capitalism this social relationship, like any other, is commodified
and turned into something almost unrecognisable. The process of bringing satisfaction and
joy to the diner involves sucking the joy out of the score of people involved in bringing
food to their plate. In modern capitalism the kitchen and 'front of house' are highly
exploited and put under a system of intense pressure requiring production to happen faster
and faster. In an industry where it's commonly said '50% of businesses fail' those who own
these failing (and succeeding) businesses try to pass the losses on to those of us who work.
Hospitality as a working career tends to mean one of two things to modern Australians,
either it's what we really want to do, or something we get stuck doing while trying to
move on to other industries. As such, the industry is full of transient workers: people
studying, travelling, or just filling in time while looking for more meaningful work. This
is often quoted as an argument against attempts to organise workers in hospitality.
However, for another good portion of us, this is our career, and for many a chef, it's a
passion too. We have the lowest award rate for a trade qualification, and the industry is
rife with people who are paid under the award rate, in exploitative conditions. It's not
uncommon for workers to do 16+ hour days, sometimes without breaks, or hours per week well
in excess of double the normal working week. Conditions that make for potential rebellion
and an opening awaiting organisation.
In my experience of hospitality work, workers 'resistance' to this extremely exploitative
and intense situation is based on informal methods of direct action. The industry has no
culture of unionism, and often relies on people in difficult circumstances who may have
little experience in traversing the difficulties of legal avenues and negotiated
bargaining to achieve better conditions.
So, for example, in one café a worker was electrically shocked, and when we informed the
boss he said that she should keep working. We closed the kitchen, threw out the faulty
equipment and collectively told the boss we wouldn't work that section until the problem
was fixed. In another example, a waitress who had to work long hours for little pay,
servicing a large dining room night in night out, developed the idea that she could 'book'
in huge tables for the night's service, bookings that didn't actually exist. The table
would sit empty and we could all work an easier night because of it.
The industry also has a romanticisation of hard work which is difficult to overcome. When
people complain about the long hours, working all weekend, no breaks, hot and dangerous
conditions, or a lack of appropriate equipment, it often gets written off with a 'harden
up' attitude. Everyone knows deep down that it's an impossible situation, but people find
it hard to admit it to one another. If we all admitted how horrible the industry is, we'd
probably have a breakdown. Though that often happens. I've seen four head chefs and two
floor managers have break downs through the 6-7 kitchens I've worked in. From locking
themselves in the coolroom to literally collapsing and vomiting blood from over-work,
stress, and the mandatory drug habits that come with achieving impossible levels of output.
The bourgeois press often decries workers in hospitality struggling for better conditions
and pay. Cries of 'you it will bankrupt us' abound. If a business cannot even afford to
pay a living wage, it should not exist. It is not socially useful. It is not even
worthwhile in the capitalist-liberal sense. But this is the logic of capitalism.
Melbourne being the 'food capital of Australia,' we are particularly attuned to the
fancies of the market and trends amongst foodies around the world. A current headline is
the excitement over Heston Blumenthals 'Fat Duck' moving to Melbourne. And do you know why
he chose Melbourne over, say, New York?
"We wanted to open there. I've got some good chef mates in the business in New York and
they all said the same thing: 'If you can't be union-free, don't touch it'"- Heston Blumenthal
That is, in Australia you have a thriving market, and low labour conditions. Even worse
than New York apparently, though America has a world reputation for horrible hospitality
conditions.
But things can change. A number of years ago a small group of activists attempted to
import the concepts behind the New Zealand "UNITE" union to Australia, with some small
successes. While being nominally a 'fast food and services' union, they organised a
variety of hospitality workplaces. From Bakers Delight to the Carlton Club, 7-11's and a
succesful campaign organising Brunswick Street. The responses from workers shows that
potential for organisation exists. UNITE was extremely small, and not well financed. It
relied heavily on the activity of a few core activists. As such I would say UNITE's
weaknesses are obvious. United Voice (formerly the LHMU) is technically the union for
hospitality workers. The LHMU had two 'sections'; the 'Miscellanious' (Cleaners, Security
Guards, Ambos etc) and the 'Pissos' (basically restaurant/cafe workers.) The Misco section
is well organised, and runs consistent campaigns involving workplaces all over Australia.
As for the 'Pissos', besides the Casino, I do not know of any workplaces in hospitality
they have organised. However, I think this is because of material conditions. Few workers
I've ever met in hospitality were ideologically left or unionists. It makes for a hard
starting ground in Australia's union/political structure for a union to simply walk in and
start organising workers. UV's lobbying actions to 'defend our penalty rates' etc will go
nowhere without on the ground organisation and direct action.
United Voice, like most of the union movement is fighting back against the Abbott
government's workplace relations laws. Specifically in regard to hospitality, this means
an attack on weekend rates. If one reads the bosses 'Restaurants and Catering' reports,
every year they recommend a slashing of weekend rates, penalties and awards:
"The system further disadvantages the services sector (and in particular restaurant and
catering businesses) by enshrining penalty rates based on industry-wide traditions.
Penalties for working on Saturday and Sunday (and after 7pm) when restaurants and catering
businesses do most of their trade makes no sense. Employees want to work these hours and
businesses need to have them work, yet the business in penalised."
Removing penalty rates would put incredible stress on suffering workers should it succeed.
Many people around Australia rely on those 'weekend rates' to help them get by. They
sacrifice parts of their weekend for an elevated rate on sunday. Often these Sunday shifts
mean the difference between paying rent or not, especially for those who work part-time
and have other commitments etc. Think of single mothers and the under-employed, etc.
Should the Liberals succeed in slashing penalties, a lot of us will be fucked. And we will
be giving up a part of our life (weekends and nights), missing out on important social
life, for no reward. These attacks are coupled with an increased tendency towards
casualisation and part-time work. Couched in terms of 'flexibility', much like other
industries, hospitality thrives on discplining the working class and giving them few rights.
We know that methods of organising exist, and opportunities will present themselves. As
for what action we should undertake, that is to be debated. I think it's possible to begin
to build unions amongst hospitality workers, however transient or resistant they may be,
and use the resources available through United Voice to assist self-activity and negotiate
better contracts to back up the sporadic direct actions that break out. I believe workers
- not in the 'glamourous' restaurants, but rather your day-to-day cafes, pubs, bars and
restaurants frequented by the working class - are where the beginnings of self-activity
will occur. Workers here have less of the 'I will make it as a celebrity/top chef'
attitude. They are disgruntled line cooks, wait staff, dishwashers and baristas who've
been trapped by the lack of opportunities in neoliberal Australia.
Further Reading: Revolting Kitchens - The Red Chef's perspective on the food industry
Tom is a hospitality worker and member of Anarchist Affinity. First published in the
Spring 2014 edition of The Platform.
by Tom
http://www.anarchistaffinity.org/2014/11/slaving-in-the-kitchens-hospitality-in-australia/
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