'We will fight you for ever and ever': SkyCity AGM met by unionists with a message

Protesters on Hobson St today, opposite the $703m NZICC. Photo / Anne Gibson

"We will fight you for ever and ever," chanted 31 union protesters in te reo Māori outside SkyCity Entertainment Group's AGM today in Auckland.

Members of SEA Unite sang waiata and chanted their protest message as they held signs saying "over worked and underpaid".

But chief executive Graeme Stephens said before the meeting that workers of 40-hour plus per week were already paid overtime at 1.5 times the usual rate.

SkyCity could face a $40 million bill if all the demands were met and much of that would come off the approximately $150m net profit after tax, he said.

But Joe Carolan of the union said the demand was reasonable and would amount to no more than $21m for the weekend pay.

Protesters were on Hobson St opposite the $703m NZICC, scheduled to be finished later next year.

SkyCity is flush with cash, having sold its Darwin property for $188m, its Auckland underground carparks for $220m and a Federal St carpark near its headquarters, netting around $450m.

Asked in August what plans the business had, chief executive Graeme Stephens said: "We have been doing a share buyback. We don't need all that money today and we are lowly geared. We have not made any big commitments to new projects outside the convention centre, so we're under-geared but we are also taking note of the environment we're in and it looks like it might be a bit more challenging. We're being conservative but keeping monitoring that position."