New Zealand's SkyCity casinos facing strikes

New Zealand's SkyCity casinos facing strikes Casino workers belonging to the Unite and Service and Food Workers unions are gearing up for 24-hour strike today, after a breakdown of the wagers negotiations with SkyCity, the New Zealand's biggest gambling operator. The unions, representing 1,300 SkyCity employees, are threatening rolling strikes until January next year, if their requests for a pay-raise are not met. The kitchen and cleaning workers are demanding a 5% pay increase from the casino for this year and 5% more next year.

The casino management, however, is already assigning non-union members to double shifts and claims that casino patrons will not notice the lack of 1,300 of the gambling company's workers. "We appreciate the way our team has pulled together and is continuing to provide an exciting entertainment experience for all our visitors. We’ve had low level strike action today and during the past week and it’s had no impact on those visiting our attractions," Gráinne Troute, SkyCity's General Manager Group Services and Human Resources, said in a press release, adding that "it's business as usual". SkyCity also said that they feel disappointed the unions have rejected the offered 4% increase in base rate this year and additional 3.5% in July 2009, as well as an offered minimum of $15 per hour immediately for all employees after three years’ service.

Published on 08/02/2008