
Issue No 60		30 June 2000

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News

Casino Olympic Pay Deal

By Andrew Casey

Sydney's Star City Casino workers have picked up a $500 Olympic bonus, as part of the negotiations for a new Casino Union enterprise agreement.

The Star City agreement with the Casino Union will deliver a total wages, and shift loading increases, of between five and eight per cent a year, for the next two years.

The special Olympic bonus is paid between September 15 and October 1 at $50 per shift ( $6.25 per hr ).

Casino workers normally earn about $28,000 a year, through to about $43,000 a year.

Australia's Casino Union - the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union - represents about 2,100 workers at Star City Casino.

" The Casino industry. which is overwhelmingly youth oriented, gives the lie to the argument that young people and unions don't mix," Rebecca Reilly, a Casino Union organiser explained.

The LHMU Casino Union example, of a new vibrant organising culture, will be featured on the first day of the ACTU Congress.

" The members are serious about their claims, but the youth, the style and the activism of this workforce doesn't fit the image normally associated with unions," Rebecca Reilly explains.

" The new union organising culture - which is the focus of the LHMU and is being promoted by the ACTU - is wonderfully represented here," Tim Ferrari, the Assistant National Secretary of the LHMU, said.

" People, active in the union, delegates taking control of the agenda and running the issues.

" We've been able to get the Olympic bonus during our enterprise agreement negotiations - and make it one of the best deals around - because our members are involved and understand the union movement is vibrant and alive - only because of them," Tim Ferrari, said.

Earlier this week the LHMU had a world-first breakthrough with the introduction into the NSW Parliament of legislation which will ban smoking at the gaming tables.

Rebecca Reilly explains that her role with the union members is to provide the backing to the key delegates and members who run the show.

" They decided to campaign for a ban on smoking at the gaming tables. They decided to campaign for the huge Olympic bonus they have just won."

" And now the members want serious talks with the company about how to control unruly and unacceptable patron behaviour which sometimes includes lewd, unsavoury and objectionable suggestions."

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  Issue 60 contents

Interview: Turning Tides
ACTU President Sharan Burrow reflects on the disappearance of the middle class and what the union movement can do about it

Unions: Fear and Loathing in Wollongong
For four days this week, too much unionism was barely enough. We bring you the highs and lows from behind the scenes and inside the bars of this week�s ACTU Congress.

Politics: The Group Hug
Opposition leader Kim Beazley came, saw and conga-ed. Here's what he said to the ACTU Congress.

History: Unions and Family Trees
Trade union records may not be the first port of call for a beginning family historian, but down the track a little, these records could bring to life an ancestor who previously was just a name printed on the page.

International: Fiji Bans Lifted
Fiji employers are expected to start reinstating all their workers over the next week, now that Australian union bans have been lifted at the request of the local union leadership.

Review: Room to Manoeuvre
Full employment with a highly skilled well-paid workforce is a realistic goal for Australia, despite the supposed constraints of globalisation.

Satire: Satan Subpoenaed To Cricket Inquiry
The King Commission of Inquiry into cricket match-fixing yesterday heard evidence from Satan that he never influenced Hansie Cronje to accept bribes.

» Delegate Rights Up in 48 Hours

» Email Express to Orange Rally

» Nose Stud Leads to Sacking

» Shaw Walks, Costa Considers Future

» Reith's Waterfront Ghost Returns

» Free Trade: Debate We Have to Have

» Superannuation to Hit 15 Per Cent

» ATSIC Chief Calls for Workplace Quotas

» Those Bastards in There

» Strike Marks Resurgence In Community Sector Activism

» Casino Olympic Pay Deal

» NSW School Staff Ban GST Work

» Workers Online Wins ACTU Media Award

» Update: Computer War Hots Up

» STOP PRESS: Pay Equity Decision Handed Down