Casino workers call for pay hike amid Macau’s bleak gaming performance

A labor group in Macau is pressing for salary hike for casino employees, despite the casino industry’s ongoing lackluster performance.

Choi Kam Fu, director general of the Macau Gaming Enterprises Staff’s Association, told local media the group has teamed up with two other unions representing casino workers. Together, they will deliver letters “calling for salary increases and bonuses in 2016” to the six casino operators in the city state.

Public broadcaster TDM quoted Choi saying: “The expenditures on the welfare of the staff do not occupy a large portion of the overall operational costs. Some only make up around 10 percent. Based on the adjustment, the expenditures would not draw too much pressure.”

GGRAsia reported that Wynn Macau Ltd. has already announced that employees of Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace will get a one-month bonus ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday period, which starts on February 7. According to the report, which quoted local media outlets, 98 percent of Wynn’s 8,000 employees, excluding senior management, will get the bonus.