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| Issue No 59 |  |
23 June 2000 |
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NewsNo Cigars for Casino High RollersBy Andrew Casey
In a world first Australia's Casino Union has won a decision to ban smoking on gaming tables at Sydney's Star City Casino.
"As far as we are aware this is the first casino in the world where dealers' health has been given priority-one status, when it comes to banning smoking in the workplace," Tim Ferrari of the Casino Union says. The Casino Union - the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU) - represents about 2,100 workers at Star City. " Unruly patrons have been known to deliberately blow smoke in the faces of our members. They want to upset the flow of the cards, because their betting is not delivering them any wins. " Thanks to legislation introduced into State Parliament this evening our members won't have to suffer this behaviour," Ferrari says. "Casino dealers and croupiers can be subjected to smokers standing just two feet away - and sometimes up to eight gamblers at a time. Ferrari paid tribute to Health Minister, Craig Knowles, for taking the time to visit the Casino and see what our members were suffering. " We are very happy that a Labor Minister is prepared to get out among the workers to investigate legitimate workplace health claims," he says. The LHMU - the Casino Union - proudly represents more than 150,000 hard working women and men throughout Australia. Porters win back their Tips And in another win, hotel workers in one of Sydney's leading Kings Cross establishments, catering to the Japanese tourist trade, asked their union to complain because they believed their tips were being 'nicked', as part of a new company policy. When the hotel workers - employed at the Millennium Hotel - told management they'd hold a breakfast BBQ today, right outside the front of their workplace, with tourists, the public and the media invited, the company quickly found the missing tips - known in the trade as Porterage. The management agreement with the hotel union - the LHMU - will deliver hundreds of dollars per month in Porterage to union members, as well as more rostered days off, more permanent jobs and reduced workloads for casual employees. The Porterage, mainly from Japanese tour groups, was withheld from the workers even though the hotel's management knows many of their employees depend on the tips to earn a more than just decent wage. " Japanese tour groups collect money from individual members of the groups ( typically $2-$5 per person). This money - known as Porterage - is collected in lieu of the guests giving tips directly to the Porters, who typically move over a tonne of luggage each per day," Millenium Hotel LHMU delegate Vlad Kotler says. Since changes in management policy at the Millennium Hotel last year, this Porterage money stopped being forwarded to the porters. "The Porters believe the money is clearly meant to be given to them as tips. That has been the tradition in the industry - here in Australia and overseas - for decades. "The withholding of this money was misleading to the guests. It was an unfair and unacceptable reduction in our conditions."
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   Interview: Holding the LineDiwan Shankar, Assistant National Secretary of the Fiji TUC, is in Australia to consolidate support for his members and plead for ongoing bans. Technology: D-Day for VC?NSW Labor Council secretary Michael Costa explains the motivations behind the new Get on Board computer-internet venture. Legal: Knock, Knock - Who's There?When the nine year old son of CFMEU construction division state secretary Andrew Ferguson recently responded to a Saturday door knock, it was neither a friend nor a Jehovah's Witness. Unions: Are You a Good Listener ?Mark Hearn goes inside the Energy Australia call centre to find a workplace where there is a code for evrything - even trips to the toilet. International: Union Observers Barred from Zimbabwe PollFive observers from the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) and 19 other South Africans aligned to Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice are among 233 observers barred by the Zimbabwean government from monitoring the parliamentary elections. History: Community, Class, and Comparison Despite its occasional romantic tendencies, new labour scholarship is mapping collective action within working class communities. Satire: Rural Poor Return to LaborThrilled by the great new branding, the new Country Labor party has caused scenes of great rejoicing in the country. Review: The Wicked Webs We WeaveLaborNet web-meastro Paul Howes trawls the web for some hot sites for all you political junkies.
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