Workers at Crown Casino have threatened they may walk off their jobs or refuse to serve alcoholic beverages during the spring racing carnival as the wage disagreements with their employers only become more serious.
The union which represents Crown Casino workers, United Voice, has made an announcement that the casino’s operations could be ceased temporarily as negotiations over the wages of the casino employees have reached a dead end. The United Voice Union has also filed an application to the Fair Work Commission seeking the body’s permission for a ballot of the union members. The organisation which currently represents Crown Casino workers will ask members to back up to 24-hour strikes, to refuse to serve alcohol and to appear on their shifts wearing union branding.
The United Voice Union has shared its hopes to have the ballot finished by October 28th, which would allow Crown Casino employees to go on strike on November 1st, right before the beginning of the Victoria Derby which would mark the official start of the festivities associated with the Melbourne Cup.
The union representing Crown Casino workers is insisting that the new three-year enterprise agreement which involves 5,000 employees of the gambling venue guarantees a 5% wage increase on an annual basis. According to the most recent data, the inflation runs at 1.6%, while the last fiscal year saw a 2.3% increase to the wages in the private sector. United Voice is willing to secure larger wages to its members, to maintain full-time jobs, as well as to guarantee higher minimum hours for employees who work part-time.
United Voice Union Has Rejected Crown’s Offer for a 2.5% Annual Wage Increase for Three Years
So far, the Crown Casino has made an offer for a 2.5% annual wage increase over the next three years, but the union rejected the proposal, claiming that the gambling giant had agreed in principle to only one of the demands – to reduce the time taken to move from casual to permanent employment with the casino to 12 months. So far, that transition period has been 24 months.
According to information unveiled by the Union, 10 meetings between the representatives of the two parties have been held so far, but they had little effect. This is the first strike held by Crown Casino workers in 16 years, and the situation is quite serious, as Union members have threatened to disrupt the gambling giant’s trading during the Melbourne Cup week – a move that could cause serious losses for the company.
United Voice continues to claim that the staff working at the Crown Resorts were the reason why the casino giant has been successful, and without the staff, Crown Casino would not be able to function any more.
Crown, however, disagrees with the union’s claims. Natasha Stipanov, a spokesperson for the gambling operator, explained that as part of continuing talks the casino company had made a “substantive offer”. Ms Stipanov further shared that Crown Casino provided flexible options for staff who preferred to keep their casual or part-time positions, despite approximately 83% of the entire workforce employed by the company is employed on a permanent full-time or part-time basis.
For the time being, more than 7,400 people are employed by Crown.
- Author
Olivia Cole
