Hotel staff under strain with Covid risks — quarantine facilities ‘operating similar to prison’

Hotel staff working at the isolation frontline liken their jobs to prison wardens.

Gerard Hehir, of the Unite union, which represents many of New Zealand’s hotel workers, said quarantine facilities, in particular, were operating similar to a prison.

“That’s actually the level of control that’s required to do it properly,” Hehir said.

“In the prison, you need to know where the prisoner is, are they secure.

“Hotels are not set up like that, staff are not trained to do that and so it’s a huge learning curve there.

“[Hotels aren’t] designed to prevent people from moving from one area to another.”

Initially hotel staff faced a “shambles” but the situation had improved, Hehir said.

Most, if not all, hotels now had personal protective equipment (PPE) and because residents had to stay in their rooms and were only allowed out for short periods of exercise, the risk to staff was low.

But despite the improvements, one worker at a leading hotel in Auckland said he was leaving because his job was not worth the risk.

The worker — who did not want to give his name — agreed staff were provided with PPE, including masks and gloves, and adequate information on the risks. Yet he was living with a person deemed vulnerable to serious illness from Covid-19.

“That was the main factor [in leaving],” he said.

However, he also believed there had been failings at his hotel, which was housing hundreds of guests arriving from overseas for self-isolation, as well as paying domestic guests.

Guests in isolation and those paying were kept apart.

However, until about one week ago, the same staff members would greet and interact with both groups, the worker said.

Staff had also initially been told not to wear masks and gloves around paying guests for fear of scaring them.

“I didn’t follow it at all, I kept my mask and gloves on,” the man said.

Unlike supermarket workers who were given a temporary 10 per cent pay bonus in recognition of their hard work and the risks related to offering essential services related to Covid-19, hotel workers had not been offered anything, the man said.

“And most people at the hotel are paid close to minimum wage,” he said.

One Kiwi in quarantine at the Novotel appreciated the work of staff who all appeared to be doing a good job.

“All of them wear masks, work behind perspex similar to a bank. Everyone here that I see is respecting the social distancing. There are also marked lines spaced out to help enforce it.”

Meanwhile, Hehir said he was aware of one hotel that had axed its ministry contract to quarantine overseas guests. It was a financial risk the hotel was prepared to bear in favour of returning its focus to domestic tourism.

“It’s tough. Your occupancy falls from 87 per cent to 15 per cent. The MoH are the only game in town at the moment,” Hehir said.