Timarit Eflingar

Bjarni Þórarinsson, founder and the first chairman of the union 70 years since the founding of the restaurant worker’s union September 26 marked 70 years since the founding of the restaurant worker’s union, which merged with Efling upon the latter’s founding in 1998. A reporter from Efling sat down with Bjarni Þórarinsson, the founder and first chairman of the union, on this occasion. Bjarni made a short stop in the restaurant industry while financing his education as a teach- er and working as a night watchman at a hotel. This short time working at the hotel and even shorter time spent as chairman still proved to be a pivotal step in the history of the class struggle for restaurant workers. How did you come to work in a hotel in Reykjavík? I was almost 20 years old when I was in the 2nd part of the teachers’ school in the autumn of 1949. Neither my parents nor myself had any money but I had a promise from Þorsteinn Jónsson, the co-up manager in Reyðarfjörður, that the co-up would loan me a living stipend for the next few years while I studied. When I came to Reykjavík, I saw a job opening for a night watchman at Hotel Skjaldbreið and I was hired there in the autumn. The compensation was free food and housing plus 900 kr. per month. So I did not need to take the loan until my last winter. The working hours were every night from 12 midnight until 8 in the morning. Classes at school began at 9, so I had good time to walk to school. I just went to sleep in the later part of the day. Were you working every night of the week? Yes, every night, year round. Never a night off. Why did you decide to start a trade union for restaurant workers? None of the hotel employees were in a union. The work- ers were negotiating individually. I did not like it and in the summer of 1950 I collected the names of restaurant workers in Reykjavík who wanted to collectively bargain with restau- rant owners. These workers, mostly women, came together, founded the union and elected the board on 26 September 1950. I was elected chairman at that meeting. Guðmundur Vigfússon, managing director of the Reykjavík trade union’s representitive council, greatly assisted us in founding the union and negotiating. However, the restau- rant owners also formed an association a few years earlier and refused to negotiate with the workers’ union. They felt more comfortable negotiating with individuals and unassoci- ated people and refused to recognize the new association. This went on all winter and we did not make any contracts. This ended in a strike in the spring of 1951 which lasted for three weeks until an agreement was reached. The dispute was about recognizing the union. What was it like when you were on strike? I went to school between negotiations and was on strike patrol at night. One of the first nights of the strike we went to Bautinn on Hafnarstræti and I was pushed down the stairs and sprained my ankle. I was then on crutches for the whole strike. It was the owner’s son who pushed me. I sued him and won the case. So things went on. We had a lot of support from the public, people boycotted the restaurants that stayed open and committed strike violations. Many people also assisted us with the strike. As a result, the restaurant owners were compelled to negoti- ate with the worker’s union. In the end the workers won a complete victory. In addition to recognition of the union, a signifigant wage increase and one day off per month was approved. However I only received a letter of termination from the hotel manager and I was fired with one month’s notice from my job. Newspapers from this time call your dismissal persecution. It was discussed? I didn’t know. I wasn’t reading the papers at the time because I was in exams during that spring. Other than this, things were good between myself and Pétur, the hotel manager at Hotel Skjaldbreið. He was just forced to fire me because he was probably on the board of restaurant owners. What did you do after you were terminated? I was living in a hotel room which I lost when I was terminated. I went east to work with herring and finished my teacher train- ing in the following winter. It was very fortunate that I had that loan promise from the co-up manager of Reyðarfjörður. I was able to finish my teacher´s training. I worked as a teacher and later as a principal to the age of 60 when I started rowing on my handliner until the year 2004. TÍMARIT EFLINGAR-STÉTTARFÉLAGS 37