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Melbourne Crown Casino Employees: To Strike or Not?

Posted on September 10th, 2010

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In the Australian state of Victoria, the spring racing carnival is usually considered to be one of the biggest events in the country’s social calendar, usually celebrated with the participation of the who’s who of society, politics and other fields. This year, one of the biggest crowd drawers of the state’s biggest city, Melbourne, may be in a bit of trouble. The employees of the Crown Casino in Melbourne are poised to hold a strike during the event. A national union of workers in the hospitality and entertainment industry, the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU) has thrown accusations against the managers and higher levels of the casino with failure to give their employees a fair increase in their wages. Moreover, the casino bosses have also allegedly altered some conditions in the casinos that would make the casino’s more experienced dealers close to AUS$5,000 every year.

A hearing was held on Wednesday regarding the planned strike. Labor organization Fair Work Australia made way for the staff of the Melbourne Crown Casino to vote on an indefinite strike and rolling stoppages. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Crown Casino, Gary O’Neill, claims that the casino had already offered its Melbourne casino employees a fair deal. The same deal, he said was received more enthusiastically by employees of another casino facility that Crown also owns, the Burswood Casino in Perth. Meanwhile, another offer, which in fact is smaller compared to what they offered to Melbourne employees, has also been accepted by employees of Star City in Sydney. The Crown employees who are also members of the union declined to accept the offer a wage increase that would translate to about 3.5 percent for every year. Furthermore they claim that Crown’s proposal contains changes that would cut wages for dealers amounting to AUS$2.40 for every hour. With what is happening with the rejection of the plans of Crown, its frontline staff on Melbourne, which has undergone proper training and years of experience may be forced to quit.

The secretary of LHMU Victoria, Jess Walsh, claimed that the decline of an experienced staff in the Melbourne Crown Casino may result in the increase of the risk of violence fuelled by alcohol, as well as an addiction of Victoria residents to gambling. Walsh added in her statement that “Experienced, properly-trained staff is vital to ensuring gaming and alcohol is served responsibly at Crown.” However, she claims that the actions of Crown in forcing its offer to its employees who are demanding other things is a clear message that the employees’ loyalty and the experience and dedication of the staff is not valued by the company. Walsh adds that Crown Casinos only cares about making more money without caring about the repercussions of its actions to the community or to its staff. She illustrates the case by saying that the casino has declared profits of AUS$300 million, yet it has told its staff that a fair wage increase is something the company cannot afford. Moreover, the company would need to make changes that would cost its experienced dealers more or less AUS$5,000 for every year.

The vote to be conducted on the casino employees would require a majority for the strike to be greenlighted. The LHMU said that should the employees vote to strike, the action would coincide with the spring racing carnival. On the part of the management of Crown Casinos, O’Neill said that the casino is still open to negotiations despite the fact that they have found the statements issued by the union as blunt and disappointing. He said, “We are disappointed with the response, we thought negotiations were ongoing and that progress had been made,” he told AAP. He remains optimistic that a strike will not occur as a majority of the members of the union would need to vote to strike in two ballots, and therefore the process still has a long way to go. Moreover he claims that even should the employees strike, the company is confident that it has the resources available to keep the casino and other parts of the complex operational.

There is a contrast in the exact number of employees that are or are not part of the union The LHMU says union members make up a majority of casino employees. Meanwhile, O’Neill counters that out of its 5,500 workers, only 1/3 of them are union members.