Staff at Star City Casino have vowed to continue strike action throughout January as they demand an increased wage offer.
The strikes, which have been organised by the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), started on New Year’s Day and are set to continue until a fair agreement has been made with the casino, according to LHMU NSW branch secretary Mark Boyd.
“We’ve been in wage negotiations for six months now with the casino. On two occasions they’ve put an agreement on their employees,” Mr Boyd said. “On both occasions their employees have rejected the offer from the casino.”
Mr Boyd said around 600 staff took part in a series of one-hour stoppages from 8pm Friday night to lunchtime Saturday. “Our understanding is that on Friday night about 25 to 30 percent of the tables weren’t able to operate,” he said.
“The morning shift [on Saturday] about 95 percent of the staff stopped and my understanding is about 80 percent of the staff stopped at lunchtime on Saturday.”
But Star City spokesperson Peter Grimshaw, said those numbers were exaggerated. “The union figure is fanciful. Only about 5 percent of our staff took part in the industrial action. Most of our staff are not even union members and were not entitled to strike even if they wanted to,” Mr Grimshaw said.
“The strike was totally ineffective – every area of Star City’s operations performed normally. In fact, we had a record New Year’s Day despite the strike.”
Sharon Eurlings has been working at the casino for over 14 years. She hoped the strikes would bring about a good outcome for the staff. “The management of any company needs to look after its investors but there needs to be a balance with the needs of the staff,” Ms Eurlings said.
She said staff were pressured by casino managers not to strike. “We felt the pressure when the company said it would lock people out, but in the end it was made easy because of the staff that took part in the strike. If the staff had their way, they wanted to go out on New Year’s Eve, but I think the union was concerned with people losing a lot of money in penalty rates.”
According to Jim Lloyd, LHMU Branch President, the casino should reward its staff after posting healthy profits in the last financial quarter.
“The casino is planning to spend $575 million on renovations at Star City, its top executives are being paid more than $2.6 million and its last quarter revenue is up 11.6 percent. Yet Star City is refusing to give staff a fair wage rise and is attacking their sick leave loading,” Mr Lloyd said in a statement.
Mr Grimshaw defended the casino’s position, vowing not to bow to union pressure. “Star City has put forward a very fair offer including a nine percent increase in wages over three years and increased allowances,” he said
“Unfortunately the union is trying to retain some outdated work practices – they want us to pay penalty rates to people taking sick leave. That kind of practice is simply not acceptable in any business in 2010.”
“It would be a pity if the union made our staff lose even more money through further strikes,” Mr Grimshaw said.
by Ehssan Veiszadeh
