Union rep urges boycott of restaurants charging extra at Easter

A food workers' union delegate is calling for a boycott of restaurants which increase menu prices on Easter Friday.

Some restaurants and cafes put up menu prices about 15 per cent to help cover increased staff wages incurred under the Holidays Act. Other establishments will be staying closed.

But Service and Food Workers Union Northland delegate Katrina Bazey said she "did not believe in surcharges" and asked people not to go to places with the surcharges. Other eateries -- dairies and service stations -- did not put up prices.

Increased visitor numbers to restaurants at Easter should also help offset increased staff wages, she said.

Restaurants, dairies, service stations and takeaway bars are the only eateries allowed to open on Good Friday.

Under the Holidays Act, employees must be paid time-and-a-half and receive time off in lieu.

Miss Bazey's statement was disputed by Northland restaurant owners and the New Zealand Restaurant Association.

Whangarei's Vinyl restaurant owner Helen Smith, who will add a 15 per cent surcharge tomorrow, said restaurants' profit margins were "so marginal" and strongly centred on labour costs.

Miss Bazey was wrong to have compared restaurants and cafes with other eateries as they had different ways of factoring in public holiday costs.

According to New Zealand Restaurant Association statistics, the average profit margin of eateries is between 4.5 per cent and five per cent, while labour content of a menu item is between 30 per cent and 40 per cent.

New Zealand Restaurant Association chief executive Alistair Rowe said Miss Bazey "hadn't done herself any favours" by incorrectly saying increasing menu prices was not necessary.

"Don't just look at the waitress or waiter (serving a customer), look at the maitre'd, chefs, dishwashers ... There's a whole lot of people involved in making a meal," Mr Rowe said.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)