Skycity Contracting Out Plan Blocked

Skycity Contracting Out Plan Blocked

A plan to contract out the cleaning services at SkyCity casino in Auckland have been effectively blocked by an Employment Relations Authority decision that the company had acted in breach of its legal and contractual obligations.

The collective agreement between the company and the two unions representing skycity staff, Unite and the Service and Food Workers Union commits the company to a number of objectives including "the opportunity and training to devolop their full potential in a climate of teamwork and open communication" and "adapts to the needs of its employees" and "values an empowered and diverse workforce."

The Authority decided that none of those committments had been met. In fact in the specific case of the contracting out proposal "by failing to engage with its own people, by failing to have properly trained and skilled managers and supervisors in the area, by failing to invest in training whether in-house or outsourced, by failing to engage appropriately with its people in terms of team meetings and the like, SkyCity effectively ensured that the outcome of its review would be the conlusion that the present system was not working and needed to be changed."

Unite Union senior organiser responsible for the casino Tom Buckley says that while the company is not totally precluded from coming to a decision to outsource in the future, the contractual requirement to treat workers with decency and respect creates a high barrier to get through.

"We welcome the decision. It is good to have a company held to account. Too often claims or promises to treat workers well are simply empty words designed to remain on paper. This time a company has been forced to comply with its promises. That can only be a good thing for workers in the future.

ENDS

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