MP protests over 'working for a song'

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Guests of a hotel being picketed in central Auckland were treated yesterday to raucous singing from a politician who was ejected from the Scottish Parliament for a similar stunt.

Colin Fox, a socialist Member of the Scottish Parliament visiting New Zealand to address the Alliance conference this weekend, admits his 8-year-old daughter told school friends that he was thrown out "because my singing was so bad".

But it was his use of a stirring song by the 18th Century Scottish poet Robbie Burns to underline a refusal to swear allegiance to the Queen which earned him the boot.

"Robbie would have been here today but he died 200 years ago," Mr Fox told the Unite union after performing an encore of A Man's a Man for Honour at its picket of the Quay West hotel in Albert St.

Cleaners working for a contractor at Quay West and its sister Sebel hotel want an increase on hourly rates, which start at $9.50c, but are refraining from industrial action while leaving it to other members of Unite to picket in their name.

Unite leader and Alliance president Matt McCarten said this was because three workers, including two delegates, had been threatened with disciplinary action over the picket, a claim denied by contractor Paul Morrison.

Mr McCarten led unionists back to the picket from the High Court late yesterday morning after facing a bid by Australian-owned Mirvac Hotels for an interim injunction to prevent excessive noise from a speaker mounted outside Quay West.

The company, which says guests have had breakfast conversations in the hotel's first-floor restaurant drowned out for several mornings, wants the speaker and picket moved 250m away.

But Justice Ron Young said the union had to be given enough time to prepare defence affidavits and adjourned the case until next Thursday.

Mirvac general manager Janet McBain said outside the court that she supported the unionists' right to picket, but it had be within the law and the noise was making it hard to run a business reliant on repeat patronage.

Guests in the hotel lobby, including men trying to hold a business meeting, had trouble being heard when the racket resumed after the court hearing.

One woman said the noise woke her on each of the past three mornings, when the picket began about 7.30am, but she was used to hardships from international travel.

Mr McCarten said the union was prepared to abide by the law but the Auckland City Council had yet to test decibel levels to determine whether the noise was excessive.

He said it was shameful for workers to be paid so little at a hotel charging guests up to $320 a night for a room.

"We say to international companies, bring your business into New Zealand, but pay New Zealanders a decent wage."

Mr Fox said Britain had a minimum hourly wage of £5 ($13.34) and he was shocked by how little some workers were paid here.