Casino staff calls for stricter tobacco control

Yesterday morning, a group of Wynn employees organized a demonstration calling on Wynn to more strictly control smoking activities.

The group consisted of around 200 Wynn employees. Their appeals included requesting Wynn Macau to close one smoking area, and to ask the government to implement Macau’s tobacco control laws in a stricter way.

According to a report by TDM, one of the participants, surnamed Ip, said that the relevant government department “sent inspectors to the casino, but before their arrival, the casino informs customers that someone is about to come.”

Ip also noted that Wynn Macau keeps ignoring situations in which its employees are exposed to second-
hand smoking. He then accused the company of allowing customers to smoke inside VIP rooms.

Ip also said that when a worker tries to ask a customer not to smoke, the worker is scolded by his or her superior. 

“We work in a really narrow space. Even around a bus stop smoking is banned within ten meters of it. Then why do they smoke within several square meters [in the VIP rooms],” an interviewee questioned.

The participants believe that their company should not interfere with supervision works conducted by the law enforcement authority concerning air quality, and that their company should establish an internal reporting mechanism over tobacco control.

Choi Kam Fu, director general of the Macau Gaming Enterprises Staff’s Association, who also attended the demonstration, said that despite the Wynn employees having expressed their appeals to the company several times, the company has not responded. He expressed his wish for Wynn to respond to the dissatisfied staff soon. JZ