Macau casino staff shortage risk for CNY: labour reps

Jan 16, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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Existing Macau casino-floor workers could face employer requests for major overtime commitments during Chinese New Year, say some labour representatives, amid a surge in consumer demand after a three-year lull during which some front-line gaming staff moved to other departments in their workplace.

“From what we understood, gaming staff of some of the Cotai resorts – such as Galaxy Macau and Venetian Macao – have already been told to stand by for overtime shifts” for the Chinese New Year period, said Lei Iok Po, director of labour group Power of Macau Gaming, in remarks to GGRAsia.

Galaxy Macau, run by Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd, and the Venetian Macao, run by Sands China Ltd, properties in the Cotai district, are two of Macau’s biggest casino resorts. GGRAsia approached the companies, asking for comment on labour representative Mr Lei’s assertion regarding employer requests for overtime.

Sands China said in an emailed reply, that it “complies with all labour laws and regulations of the Macau SAR government, including when assigning workload to our gaming floor team members to meet operational needs during the Chinese New Year holiday”.

Separately, Cloee Chao Sao Fong, head of local gaming labour activist group New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association, told GGRAsia: “In the past two years and so, there had been many cases of table game staff assigned to other departments, like security or cage operation, when gaming floor traffic was weak.”

She added: “Now these table game staff are needed again – but it would take time for them to be reassigned to their original duties, not to mention that some of them might not want to return to [that role] yet.”

Ms Chao stated: “[Staff] hands do appear quite tight for the gaming floors for this Chinese New Year period.”

Macau’s tourism boss, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, said at the weekend that daily visitors to Macau could peak at 60,000 during Chinese New Year, although a number of gaming industry analysts caution that visitor volume by itself, is neither a proxy for, nor an especially accurate predictor of, Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) performance.

China’s State Council has designated the holiday period for mainland residents as January 21, a Saturday, to January 27, a Friday, inclusive. The festive break in Hong Kong – another important source market for Macau’s tourists – is designated as running from January 23 to January 25.

Power of Macau Gaming’s Mr Lei suggested to GGRAsia that some casino-floor staff had been told they might face cancellation of scheduled rest days during the festive period.

But he added: “The good news is… at least the front-line casino staff are now relieved…” they will not need to “to take unpaid leave every now and then,” as had happened during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Following an easing in early January, of Macau’s general Covid-19 control guidelines, specific social distancing guidelines that had limited seating and standing capacity at Macau gaming tables, had been lifted, Ms Chao told GGRAsia. People are still being advised by the local health authorities to wear masks when attending public venues.

(Updated 6.13pm, January 16)

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