Employees of Star Entertainment Group’s Brisbane casino walked off the job on Friday in protest over wage negotiations described by a workers’ union as “insulting”.
The staff, including those working on the gaming floor, in restaurants and bars and in housekeeping at The Star Brisbane, took strike action between 4pm and 6pm on Friday, according to multiple media reports – timed to coincide with the peak Friday knock-off drinks period.
The strike action was in response to a reported offer by Star of a 4% pay rise over the next three years but with reduced penalty rates on Sundays, explained Jo Schofield, National President of the United Workers Union, adding that affected staff had continued to turn up to work over the past 18 months even as Star faced financial woes that meant there was no guarantee those staff would be paid.
“While workers kept the place going in the dark days earlier this year, the shiny suits at Star Brisbane Casino blundered from disaster to disaster,” she said. “Now they’re failing to respect the importance of Star Brisbane workers who have kept the place running through crisis after crisis.”
ABC News quoted a Star spokesperson who stated in response that the company had been involved in “long and challenging EA negotiations with unions” and was “doing everything possible to secure a stable financial future that will provide security for its workers, customers, suppliers, investors and other stakeholders”.
Reports claim that union representatives had been told that the pay offer was reflective of Star’s current financial position, which has seen shareholders accept an AU$300 million rescue package from US casino operator Bally’s Corp and Bruce Mathieson’s Investment Holdings.
Star had been planning to offload The Star Brisbane, which opened in August 2024, to its Hong Kong partners Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium but that deal appears to have fallen through with the two companies planning to officially pull out this coming Monday.
