A Royal Commission found Crown Casino was unfit to run the Southbank complex in Melbourne. But, as Shane Pemmelaar reports, it will not lose its licence.
Crown Casino
If you thought the political compromises exposed by the Bergin inquiry into casino operations were bad, what happened in Tasmania should be a warning to us all, writes Suzanne James.
Everybody knows the gambling industry feeds on misery. We need to hold the individual fat cats accountable. But we also have to shine a spotlight on the pathway out of this systemic mess, argues Alex Bainbridge.
There has never been a better demonstration of how corrupt, complicit and hypocritical government institutions have become in their dealings with China than what has gone down with Crown Resorts, writes Suzanne James.
This month there have been four big wins for the union movement. Seventy jobs were saved at Murray Goulburn after a six month campaign; Dave, the union delegate sacked for leading a protest in his undies, has been reinstated; electricians at Crown Casino all got their jobs back on union conditions; and supermarket giant Coles has agreed to fast-track a vote on a new workplace agreement that will pay much higher penalty rates.
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Hundreds of Electrical Trades Union (ETU) members and other unionists protested outside Crown's casino complex in Southbank on July 25, after marching from the State Library of Victoria.
It was part of what the ETU promises to be an orchestrated campaign against former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett and the Crown Casino over the sacking of 16 gaming technicians.
Just months after an Electrical Trades Union (ETU) victory against Carlton and United Breweries, a much larger battle looms over Melbourne’s industrial landscape.
In early July, the behemoth Crown Casino laid off its entire electrical workforce. Like the Carlton brewery before it, the casino has tendered an electric gaming contract to the poker machine supplier Amtek. Just three weeks ago Amtek advertised the new casino positions, with wages set at 50% of the old salary.