Sexism row over the grotto where Santa’s paid £12 an hour but Mrs Claus gets £6.70!
PRESENTS are being wrapped, the sleigh is being polished and the reindeers saddled up.
But amid the Christmas cheer, all is not well at Santa’s grotto – at least for Mrs Claus.
For one winter wonderland at a five-star hotel has sparked an equal pay row – for offering Santa almost double what his wife will be getting.
The unlikely dispute was triggered when the £250-a-night Celtic Manor Resort advertised the seasonal jobs for its Christmas Kingdom, which is due to open at the end of this month.
The successful applicant for the role of Father Christmas will be paid a rate of £12 an hour, while Mrs Claus will have to make do with the minimum wage of £6.70 – the same as an elf.
Locals say the hotel and golf complex outside Newport, South Wales, should pay the same rate for both jobs, but the resort, which staged the 2010 Ryder Cup, said the pay difference reflected Santa’s ‘starring role’.
Kim Rees, 33, a mother-of-two from Ringland, Newport, said: ‘It’s not fair – there’s a huge difference between the two rates of pay.
‘I wouldn’t want to work there knowing Santa is on almost double what his wife gets. They should get the same. Whoever came up with this pay scale should get the sack.’
More than 6,000 children are expected to visit the Christmas Kingdom in the hotel’s rooftop garden, which was launched at the resort in 2012.
The advertisement on the hotel’s jobs website says Santa should have acting ability and must be ‘entertaining, jovial and happy at all times’. A Celtic Manor spokesman said the difference in pay was because Santa is top of the tree and they are ‘very different roles’. He said: ‘Santa Claus plays the
‘Not the same responsibilities’
lead role in the Santa’s Grotto Experience, and is the star attraction for the vast majority of our young visitors.
‘The role requires a very particu- lar set of skills and carries considerable expectations of character and appearance as he interacts personally with all his visitors.
‘Mrs Claus, along with the Christmas Kingdom elves, has more of a supporting role, guiding and assisting groups of children in preliminary activities while they wait to see Santa.
‘While it is an important job, it does not carry the same responsibility as the role of Santa.
‘The difference in pay reflects the more skilled requirements and responsibilities of the Santa role. It is in no way indicative of a gender pay divide at Christmas Kingdom.’
The spokesman added that the Celtic Manor Resort is a committed equal opportunities employer.
Visitors to this year’s grotto, which costs £12.50 per child, or £16 at weekends, are promised the chance to meet Santa’s reindeer, as well as the opportunity to skate on the rooftop ice rink.
The hotel’s website adds: ‘Not only does your experience include a chance to meet Santa, you’ll also visit Mrs Claus in her kitchen and help decorate her gingerbread Christmas trees!’
This is not the only time Santa’s workers may have been less than impressed with their pay.
In 2011, police were called to a grotto in Exhibition Square, York, when tempers flared between managers and staff after two elves claimed they had not been paid properly.
Two workers at the Winter Wonderland said they had only been paid a fraction of their wages after working there for weeks.