Industrial action forced SkyCity Casino in Aukland, New Zealand, to close a majority of its gaming floor for 24 hours in February, union bosses have claimed.
Strike action was called between 8pm on Wednesday February 2 and 8pm the following day in protest at the treatment of Chinese workers.
Approximately one-third of the casino’s staff are Chinese and the Unite Union claimed that the operator, while targeting customers from Asia, discriminates against these workers by preventing them from being able to use their holiday leave for 17 days from February 17 this year.
"The greatest impact of this policy is on the Chinese members who value the period of Chinese New Year to be with family and so on," said Unite’s national director, Mike Treen. "To have the weeks before or after the actual day blocked from being used is discriminatory. While it is true that there is a blackout also for the Christmas-New Year period, this is quite different from Chinese New Year. It includes four public holidays and combines two celebrations important in New Zealand. Chinese New Year is not a public holiday and denying Chinese staff access to any time off over a period of several weeks to be with their families is discriminatory in our view."
Treen claimed that during the strike SkyCity was only able to open a "tiny fraction" of its gaming tables under the supervision of "inexperienced" management staff.
"When I walked through the casino floor last night it was amazing how few customers they had and Chinese customers especially," he added.
