FMG stages sit-in protest outside StarWorld

Despite Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG)’s announcement of share handouts to its employees, the Forefront of Macau Gaming (FMG) rallied to protest outside the group’s StarWorld Hotel yesterday afternoon. FMG president Ieong Man Teng claimed that 1,000 people joined the demonstration, while Public Security Police said that the number was around 600.
Protesters first gathered outside Lotus Square and picked up signs prepared by FMG. They then matched to the backdoor of StarWorld and conducted a sit-in protest there. The police were forced to close a section of the road for the protesters.
During the sit-in, FMG demanded that senior managerial staff from GEG come and talk to the protesters in order to address their demands directly. However, no GEG management showed up before the protest ended.
Chloee Chao, secretary-general of FMG, admitted to the Times that the turnout of the protest yesterday was smaller than they had anticipated, due to GEG’s reward to its employees.
She also expressed her disappointment with GEG management for their failure to meet with the protesters.
“We only asked them to come out and listen to the demands of the employees,” she said.
The secretary-general said that GEG has already adjusted the salaries of pit managers and pit supervisors. The adjustment is also the exact amount listed on the petition FMG handed to the company.
Nevertheless, she believes that this adjustment does not go far enough in addressing their demands, as it only covers two positions, and that other GEG staff members, such as those working as interns and dealers, as well as those in the group’s smaller casinos that are outsourced, who have not received any salary increase.
Chloee Chao claimed that Galaxy’s management has told its staff that there will be improvement within a month. Therefore, FMG is going to wait and see what that improvement is before deciding its next step.
Furthermore, Ms Chao disclosed that FMG will organize a gathering outside Sands Macau tomorrow.
She said that although Sands China has already responded after their previous demonstration, there is still a group of Sands employees whose demands have not been addressed.
In a statement released last night, GEG Vice President of Public Relations, Buddy Lam, said that the group is “constantly mindful of the needs of our team members and, every July, we conduct annual salary adjustments based on an existing system and a number of factors, including local labor market conditions, the performance of individual team members, and the cost of living.”
While expressing its respect for some staff members who convey their concerns through external channels, GEG said that it hopes the employees can “directly express their opinions to respective departments.”  JPL