A new executive was elected at the SEA-Unite AGM. As usual there was a keen contest for nearly all positions; a great symbol of the good health of our union.
Those elected were:
Co-Presidents
Liane Henry (Gaming Machines),
Derek James (Table Games)
Secretary
Raewyn Brown (Table Games)
Trustees
Matt McCarten,
Mike Treen
Executive Committee
Josie Mulligan (Gaming Machines),
Candy Sherman (Table Games),
Chris Tatton-Brown (Table Games),
Nick Lake (Table Games),
Jade Dixon (Surveillance),
Steve McCulloch (Gaming Technician),
Melissa Ryder (24/7),
Faith Collard (Wardrobe),
Enosa Faiaki (Grand Hotel),
Ake Vano (Property Services Ð EVS),
Pita Phillips & Mana Olliver (Security).
SkyCity management are seriously undermining the safety of staff and customers in their desperate pursuit of higher profits.
In the past few weeks we have learnt that they are cutting security staff to the bare bones and removing transport to and from work for those staff who start or finish between midnight and 6am
Last week security rosters have been allowed to drop to as low as 12 on a shift. When SkyCity opened they had 35 security working a shift. That was reduced progressively to 16 earlier this year. And now the union has been told it is being allowed to drop still further as people leave and are not replaced.
How can they do they job they are meant to do. How can they control the entrances, look after the money, patrol the car parks, supervise all the bars with just 12 staff on duty.
This comes on top of the announcement that the taxi/shuttle service for staff who start or finish between midnight and 6am will finish on July 30.
We believe this will place employees at great personal risk and is therefore a flagrant breach of the Health and Safety in Employment Act.
Staff finishing or starting work between midnight and 6am in the central city, in a casino, where alcohol and gambling are mixed, will inevitably face real risks.
It is not enough to simply offer the staff who have regularly used the service the possibility of changing shift. The service is used by hundreds of staff in an irregular basis - and it is often just these circumstances that are when it is needed most. For example when your own vehicle is out of service and you need an alternative for a short period. Or the hundreds of very young staff who are used at special functions on the weekend who are finishing at 2 or 3 in the morning.
Who will be held responsible when we have the first rape or bashing of a staff member trying to get home between midnight and 6am?
Subsidised travel or taxis was promised in the job adds when staff were employed at SkyCity. It is a standard practice in the Hotel and Entertainment industry precisely because it is often unsafe to travel alone at such times. How else are they going to ensure the safety of their staff?
I would regard this as a hazard under the Health and Safety in Employment Act. This means it is the obligation of the employer to eliminate the hazard and only if they canÕt eliminate to minimise. Subsidised travel is the very least that can be offered.
All staff were told that this service would be available to them if needed when they started. It is still on offer on the SkyCity website. As such we believe it forms part of their employment agreement with SkyCity. Accordingly you have no right to terminate this aspect of their agreement without consultation.
Sky staff have been victims of the miserly cost cutting in other ways. This year we also saw a doubling of car park charges from $2-4 and a 40% increase in food prices in the staff canteen. This effectively cut their pay increase for the year of 5% in half.
SkyCity seems hell bent on a cost cutting, profit boosting campaign to benefit the shareholders. Top management heads have rolled. All departments have been told to cut costs regardless of staffing levels.
In these cases we believe SkyCity has gone too far and should suspend the decisions until further consultation and reconsideration.
SEA-Unite is providing a whole new range of services to its members from 1 August.
SEA-Unite members at the AGM voted by over 90% to approve the new fee structure to help provide these new services.
The new benefits are:
• $5000 funeral benefit to your family if you die by accidentÐ raised to $10,000 after three yearsÕ membership.
• 80% of your net wage for up to one month if you have been sacked unfairly after 6 months membership, or three months wages after one year of membership.
• No legal cost for taking cases through to mediation service after six months membership; or any Employment Authority case after one year of membership.
• Arrange an emergency loan of up to $3000 to cover airline tickets in case of overseas family bereavement.
• Arrange cheap loans of up to $10,000 through the United Credit Union and $20,000 after one year of membership.
• Discounts on a range of products and services.
• Free courses - a 36 week computer course worth over $5000; or a home-based employment skills course worth over $2500
For the last 3 years SEA-Unite fees have been 1% of earnings up to $4 a week. The new membership fees will stay at 1% of your weekly earnings but the maximum will move to $5.90 a week in line with other unions.ÊMany of you wonÕt have any increase at all. But even so, we still will charge less than other unions but provide the above services exclusively to our members.
The union has been informed that the company wants to expand the use of part-time labour working less than the usual full 8 or 12 hour shift and getting rid of the regular shifts many have.
What this means is that in Table Games part-time staff will have to indicate the range of possible shifts they could work each week and then book the ones you are able to work. You will only be able to book the times you have said you can be available. WhatÕs available could be for the minimum 3 hours allowed in the employment agreements.
Surveillance have also been told that the company will be looking to employ more part time staff under their ÒLabour Efficiency Proposals.Ó The current 12-hour shift arrangement Òcould be reviewedÓ in the future. Surveillance union members fought hard to keep their 12-hour shifts earlier this year under another attempt to cut back their conditions.
This will allow the company to expand use of part-time staff, effectively casualising the positions for many workers. This undermines the availability of full-time jobs. They wonÕt be able to get the full medical insurance cover. They wonÕt be able to get the CEI payments (if they ever return). They will be more vulnerable to being victimised.
The experience of the housekeepers in the Hotels should tell us something about how the company treats its part time staff.
Last year they told all part-time staff (most housekeepers) that they would no longer have 8-hour shifts. Now they could be rostered between 1 and 5 days a week and between 3 and 8 hours a day. On average they were reduced to a six hour day. However half the Housekeepers had the promise of 8-hour shifts in their letter of appointment. SEA-Unite was able to get these shifts restored and $15,000 in backpay.
The remaining part-time housekeepers have been paid their lieu days, sick leave and holidays at 6 hours a day regardless of the fact that some were working 8. This is in violation of the Holidays Act which says that all such days are paid at the Relevant Daily Pay rate. That equals their rostered hours or their average actual hours worked (including overtime and allowances) whichever is higher. The company refuses to accept they are wrong. SEA-Unite will be taking further action, legal if needed, to enforce the law.
One of the housekeepers who was made full-time was then cut to part-time 4-days a week for 5 weeks. SEA-Unite intervened to get her full-time status recognized and 40 hours backpay.
There seems to be an increase in disciplinaries lately. Some of these have been completely without foundation. In one case they tried to discipline a SEA-Unite member at 10pm for being absent when he had a medical certificate. The manager claimed the certificate was not acceptable. We closed the meeting down before this abusive process could continue and told the managers to consult HR and call the union if they had a problem. We havenÕt heard back from them.
Check the noticeboard for your new rates from August 1. ThatÕs when the 4% pay rise starts for 2007. Waged staff should check their payslip on August 7 to make sure they get the rise.
Because of the SEA-Unite negotiations last year all SEA-Unite members who have a COA and have worked at SkyCity for two years will be refunded $250. Those who paid $500 will get a second payment of $250 next year. The company tried to renege on this deal by only wanting to pay this to full-time staff. They had to be reminded that a deal is a deal. Payments will be made before the end of July.
The company has cut the Gaming Machine Technicians annual leave after five years from 20 days to 16. The Techs were paid annual leave of 15 days a year from when they came over from Aristocrat in 1998. After 5 years service this went to 20 days. With each new contract they were offered they sought and received an assurance their leave was protected. The company denies all knowledge of this. They say it was a ÒmistakeÓ that has been corrected when discovered with the new law on 4 weeks leave being available to everyone from April 1 this year. This issue is being taken to mediation in July .
All last week SEA-Unite reps were actively involved in a review of the planned NZQA qualifications for Surveillance, Security, Cashiering and Gaming and Gaming Machines. When finished it will mean that the work we do will have a recognized qualification that can be used elsewhere (including Australia).
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