Evening star., 1943-05-29
Labor Shortage
Forces Hotels
To Cut Service
Some Dining Rooms
Closed by Turnover
And Absenteeism
BY MIRIAM OTTENBERG

BY MIRIAM GUTENBERG.
Sharply curtailed service in Wash.
ington hotels. including the closing
OF some dining rooms and reduction
OF room service, has resulted from
the triple manpower problems Of
labor shortage, turnover and alb
senteeism, a survey Of the hotels
disclosed today.
AS one of the list of locally need
ed activities" the hotels are now
looking to the Area War Manpower
Commission office to give them the
protection promised in the employ
ment stabilization plan.
Examples Cited.
Harassed managements gave these
examples:
Shortage-"1n some departments
we re Is per cent short of help
Absenteelsm -" After PAYDAY all
the supervisors keep their fingers
! crossed. In one department recent
ly we started the day with nine in
stead of 80 employees
1urnover-"One job was filled bv
~ dlf1erent workers in one month :.
The hotel association estimated
that hotels were 10 per cent short of
/ employees, but most of the hotels set
this figure considerably higher.
| An association spokesman said
nome hotels had been trying to find
cooks for months. Because of the
shortage of help to prepare and
| serve meals, he said, some hotel din
Ing rooms will close for dinner dur
ing the summer.
Workers Scared Out"
! workers, he said. were not onlv
moving from job to job, but had
been scared out of the hotels be-
cause IA of the % Jobs listed bv
VINO as nondeferrable in the draft
were hotel jobs. The national hotel
organization did not protest this
nondeferrable list, he said, but made
a formal appeal to VINO not to ey-
| tend the list to cooks and the men
who do the heavy cleaning work in
hotels.
| The hotels have made about a
nall dozen requests to the War La
Dor Board to permit wage increases
TO hold and attract employees, but
so tar all requests have been denied.
Under agreement, the hotels ask
the union for workers. The union
can't fill their needs, so the hotels
turn to advertising and personal
| Sohcltatlon. The hotel spokesman
| said the hotels had gotten little
help from the United States En-
ployment Service.
The Washington Hotel, the man.
ager reported. has had to close its
coffee shop for dinners during the
summer because we didn't have the
help to keep it OPEN
Room Service Cut.
| Like most of the other hotels
guests at the Washington who ASH
Tor room service are requested to 20
to the dining room or face a long
wait for service
At the Mayf1oWer, the manager
said that the shortage of walters had
almost doubled the length of time
a customer had to wait for his meal,
thereby cutting down. the number
who can be served. Frequently, the
manager said, part of the dining
room had to be screened off because
there were no walters to take care of
the tables.
The MayfoWer manager said the
hotel was losing a number of work.
erS daily and that the situation was
getting tougher all the time" One
OF the difficulties, he said, was that
walters wouldn't take regular Jobs
because they could make more
money as extras" paid by the meal.
Frequently. he said, walters would
serve the three meals day in three
different hotels.
At the Wardman. delivery service
from the garage has been elimi-
mated. women are now running the
elevators and the hotel is 25 per
cent short of bellhops, with the re-
suit that the bellhops conduct two
Or more guests to their rooms at a
time. Instead of remaining open
from m. to l a m, the Wardman
dining room now closes during the
afternoon and ceases serving at
1870 pm.
Plate Service Only.
Both the Wardnan and the Carl
ton have replaced French service"
with plate service, eliminating the
side dishes and putting all the food
on one plate, so one waiter can serve
more customers.
The Wardman manager reported
oh
cent a day. adding: They don't
leave They just don't show up for
work."
The Shoreham said it was Is per
cent short of kitchen help. so to IS
per cent short of walters and bus
boys and 10 per cent short of service
help. such as maids, elevator op-
orators and bellboys.
Room services at the Shoreham
has been limited with an earlier
closing and readjusted menus. Only
one dining room, instead of two, Is
now open on Saturday night.
33 Per Cent Month Turnover.
The Willard management COM
planned that their help quit before
they pass the training stage. Labor
turnover at the hotel amounts to 33
per cent month.
The coffee shop and the Willard
room are being closed an hour ear
lier than previously and the main
dining room is not being operated
on Sunday. A shortage of telephone
operators recently forced the Will
lard to shut off its lobby telephone
service for three weeks.
Notices have been posted in the
rooms requesting guests not to use
room service if they can avoid it