Casino Encouraged Staff Have Opted to Stick With It

Christchurch Casino Encouraged That Staff Have Opted to Stick With It

Christchurch Casino Chief Executive Brett Anderson says he’s encouraged that a large number of staff have decided to stick with the casino after being asked on Saturday to consider using their accrued holidays and then leave without pay until further notice or taking redundancy.

Anderson says 75% of those that have already indicated their preference to casino have chosen the alternative to redundancy. Over a third of the 538 staff have responded since Saturday.

“These are uncertain times for our staff and for the casino but I have been buoyed by the fact many of our staff have decided to stand by us and be ready to help out when we re-open.”

Anderson informed staff on Saturday that it was no longer viable for the Casino to continue making the $410,000 per week staff payments.

“It is important to remember that at this stage no one has been forced to take redundancy, in fact this has been done in the hope our staff stick by us. However, they needed some certainty and control, and many have told me that they appreciated being able to choose their own path and not have it decided for them.

“The casino will re-open and we are committed to central Christchurch and our current site. While we’re not sure when that might be, we hope it will be sooner rather than later, and according to the latest information that we have that could possibly be in mid-May.

“We are reliant on the condition of surrounding buildings and until their fate has been determined we’re not able to re-open, however, once we have access to the casino we’re confident the clean up mission will only take a few weeks,” says Mr. Anderson.

Christchurch Casino staff have been on full pay since the earthquake six weeks ago and were guaranteed payment until tomorrow. Those staff that opt to stay with the casino, can at any stage choose redundancy and call on the additional four weeks payment if their situation changes. Anderson rejects claims by the unions that the casino is being unfair

“The casino is doing its best, of course we’d love to do more but we’re also living with uncertainty. There is a lot of misinformation being passed about at the moment and it’s unfortunate as it is creating more uncertainty for our employees.”

ENDS

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