Due to an ongoing wage dispute, Crown Casino workers are threatening to walk off the job or refuse to serve alcohol during Melbourne Cup week in early November. Their union, United Voice is using the upcoming holiday as leverage to resolve the stalled enterprise bargaining agreement.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the union will ask members to endorse strikes of up to 24 hours, a ban on alcohol, and the wearing of union branding during their shifts. It hopes to have the ballot finished by October 28, putting workers in a position to strike by November 1, the day before the Victoria Derby kicks off the Melbourne Cup week festivities.
United Voice wants a 5 percent wage increase each year under a new three-year enterprise agreement covering 5,000 workers. The most recent data shows inflation running at 1.6 percent while private sector wages grew by 2.3 percent in the last financial year. The union has demanded increased job security through maintaining full-time jobs and higher minimum hours for part-time workers.
The union has rejected Crown’s offer of a 2.5 percent annual raise over each of the next three years and claimed Crown had agreed in principle to only one of its demands, to reduce the time taken to move from casual to permanent employment from 24 months to 12 months.
“Crown staff work hard to keep the casino running 24/7 and make it the success that it is. When our members strike, Crown simply won’t be able to function,” said Ben Redford, United Voice state secretary.
United Voice said it has met with casino management 10 times this year, to no avail. “Workers gave Crown the chance to fix the job security crisis, and they did nothing. Now our members are left with no choice but to escalate their campaign, and will do whatever it takes to win justice,” Redford said. ”
A report released by the union last month found up to 70 percent of Crown’s workforce were in part-time or casual work.
United Voice’s members have not gone on strike at Crown for 16 years. But unions have recently threatened to disrupt Melbourne Cup week trading for Crown. In 2015 the Electrical Trades Union refused to repair TVs or gaming machinery or to perform any jobs in VIP gambling rooms.
Crown spokeswoman Natasha Stipanov said Crown put a “substantive offer on the table.” Of more than 7,400 Crown workers, approximately 83 percent “are employed on a permanent full-time or part-time basis,” she said.
Crown provided flexible options for staff who prefer part-time or casual work, she said. “Where staff would like to work additional hours, depending on their availability and trading conditions we strive to provide them with the opportunity to increase their hours worked,” she said. “Existing part-time and casual staff also have the opportunity to apply for many of the regularly advertised vacant full-time roles across the business.”
In August, Crown disclosed that VIP turnover plummeted 26 percent to $38 billion in the last financial year, pulling full-year net profit after tax down 28 percent to $401.8 million. Crown is also facing increased scrutiny from regulators in New South Wales and Victoria after an investigation by the Herald and The Age revealed Crown had partnered with “junket” operators with alleged links to organized crime.
