QE2 working hours and leave arrangements

[CLIVE]

when i was aboard QE2 1988 things had changed drasticaly for crew we were as hotel and catering under columbia ship management contracts which gave a month leave  after 4 month but this was unpaid . Their was no union representation either .

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

when i was aboard QE2 1988 things had changed drasticaly for crew we were as hotel and catering under columbia ship management contracts which gave a month leave  after 4 month but this was unpaid . Their was no union representation either .

Did you have assurances, Clive, that your job would be waiting for you after the month off, or were you kept wondering when you left the ship?

[lewisstone]

I would like to add to what Peter Ward has said, I was on the ship at the same time as Peter, I looked at my discharge book, I used to do four trips on and one off transatlantic and three months on one month off cruising. Waiters also had to do embarkation in Southampton and  New York, kids afternoon teas pre arrival in Cherbourg, Captains cocktail party, and after meal jobs three times a day, for example pushing the electric dog, (hoovering)  topping up the lamps, or filling the cruets, the average time on board between leaves during the summer was 48 to 50 days, So 12 to 14 hours a day 7 days a week for 48 days, we earned our wages.

[Helen Brocklesby]

When I joined as a Cabin Steward in 1993, contracts were 3 months on 1 month off (Unpaid). Shifts were anything between 10 and 12 hours a day.
It then increased to 4 months on 1 month off. When I left in December 2008, all non officer european crew were doing 6 months on and 2 months off.

[baltaogc]

1974 . 3 on 1 off unpaid but the money was still fantastic. 13.5 hours a day booked  in the bakers shop. That's 5 .5 hours OT a day and 27 hrs OT at weekends.  My mother was a manager of a bookmakers on 26 pounds a week. My pay was 58 - 65 pounds a week and I would pay off with 600- 700 pounds tax free. To put that in context a new 3 bed semi in Gosport was 3,200 pounds at that time so a thrifty person could buy a house in 5 trips. Of course at that age saving was not on my mind and one month shore leave was constant partying.

When I went back in 1983 it was consolidated pay of 300+ pounds a week , no overtime, with the 2 on 1 off and the 1 off was now paid. Shortly after I left the ship the UK crew mostly were paid off in lump sums to be replaced with foreign labor at $200 a MONTH but unfortunately I left before the pay off.

[Adam Hodson]

When i was aboard in the mid 1980s as a waiter we did 2months on followed by about a month off paid leave working about a nine hour day, Plenty of time to sunbathing in the afternoon & a good kip, Life in those days was alot more enjoyable in those days for the crew than today.

That does sound nice. 

[Chris Shaftoe]

When I joined in 72, my first 'tour' was 6 months long! Alun Davies, the other engine-room boy got his leave months before mine.

In Barbados, the stewards walked off in a dispute about days off in port. The officers decided QE2 could sail without them. A while later, on the same day, the deckies walked off for the same reason and again the officers figured the ship could sail without them.

The engine room staff had a discussion with the Chief Engineer and others in the same baggage room the crew movies were shown in and we discussed the possibility of walking off. When they realised we were as disgruntled as the rest of the crew, they made concessions about days off in port and we sailed shortly after.

This led to many a discussion about whose department was the most important when it came to running the ship! I guess we won that one