KEY POINTS:
Cutbacks in security staff and after-hours transportation are undermining safety of staff and customers at SkyCity Casino in Auckland, a union says.
Unite Union national director Mike Treen said 35 security staff worked a shift when SkyCity opened 11 years ago but it got down to 12 on a shift last week.
"How can they control the entrances, look after the money, patrol the car parks, supervise all the bars with just 12 staff on duty?" Mr Treen said.
"It is no surprise to be told that there is a greater presence of loan sharks and prostitutes operating in the casino as a consequence."
SkyCity's free transport service to and from work for staff who start or finish between midnight and 6am is also about to disappear, leaving Mr Treen to say that management was undermining staff safety in the pursuit of higher profits.
An offer to give staff using the service different shifts was inadequate, he said.
"We believe this will place employees at great personal risk and is therefore a flagrant breach of the Health and Safety in Employment Act," he said.
Sky City Auckland general manager David Christian said the cut in security staff numbers was part of a plan announced to the market last month by which the company was looking to cut 230 full-time equivalent jobs in the next 12 to 18 months in an attempt to deliver "operational efficiencies" of $33 million.
He said security would still be adequate and disputed the figure of 12 staff rostered on for one shift.
"SkyCity is a vastly different business to what it was 11 years ago," Mr Christian said.
"We have more than 130 trained security staff operating 24/7. That means at any one time there are more than 19 dedicated security staff rostered to operate in addition to our surveillance team.
"You can be assured the safety and security of our customers and staff is a priority for us."
Mr Christian said the staff taxi shuttle service was cut following a review which showed that the service was very expensive to run and that only a core group of 30 people used it regularly.
The service was an optional benefit for employees and therefore there were no employment agreement implications for individuals, he said.
"Regular users of the shuttle service received six weeks' notice. We appreciate the inconvenience for this group of people and are working with them around the alternative means of transport, and the possibility of moving to another shift."
- NZPA
