GGRAsia – Labour group marchers target Melco Resorts on benefits

Labour group marchers target Melco Resorts on benefits

Jul 31, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

A Macau gaming labour activist group says it is organising a protest march outside casino resort City of Dreams Macau on Wednesday afternoon. The goal is to urge the property’s operator, Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd, to increase employer contributions made to an in-house retirement benefits fund, and to offer staff members a “summer bonus”.

So said Cloee Chao (pictured), director of labour group Professional for Gaming of New Macau, during a press briefing held on Monday. Ms Chao noted that marchers would also be demanding Melco Resorts to “strictly enforce” smoking control rules inside its casinos.

Ms Chao told GGRAsia earlier this month that her group had received complaints from some of Melco Resorts’ casino dealer employees about the firm’s provident fund policy. “We’re told that the firm only contributes to the provident fund based on the dealer employees’ base salary – this is a practice that the other gaming operators discontinued in 2014 or 2015,” Ms Chao said at the time.

Ms Chao said her group had received news that about 600 Melco Resorts staff were planning to join Wednesday’s protest march.

Earlier this month, Ms Chao’s labour group organised a petition among staff at Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd urging the firm to issue a “summer bonus” to employees. The firm later announced what it termed a “one-off special discretionary bonus” equal to one month of base salary and guaranteed tips (if applicable), payable to “97 percent” of its non-management employees, namely those at senior manager level or below.

On July 13, casino operator Wynn Macau Ltd stated it was offering most of its staff a “special bonus” equal to one month of gross salary, with the gratuity payable on August 15. Earlier, in June, Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd said it was to pay on August 31 what it termed a “one-off special bonus” equivalent to one month’s salary, to eligible full-time workers of “qualifying grades”.

Rival Macau operator MGM China Holdings Ltd announced in February the issuing of a discretionary bonus, plus a “special bonus”, the latter equivalent to a 14th-month salary for eligible non-management team members.