Casino employees in dispute over tipping

An industrial tribunal has ruled that the tipping system for Dragonara Casino employees could not be changed to include new employees of the Dragonara Casino Limited without the consent of the signatories to a former agreement.

Tribunal chairman Carmel Debono and members Joseph G. Vassallo and Maurice Agius ruled however that the matter should be resolved in the next collective agreement because it was not fair that employees were not treated equally.

The dispute arose after the Casino Employees' Union refused to accept a new agreement over the apportioning of tips because this impinged on an existing agreement between the union and Casma Limited.

Dragonara Casino Limited eventually took over from Casma Limited when the casino changed hands and employed new staff in addition to the existing staff it absorbed in the take-over.

The tribunal dismissed the union's request to limit tips solely to employees of the gaming section and said the request was "unacceptable".

It heard how the government and unions reached an agreement between May and June, 1998 that the new management would honour the existing collective agreement.

But the recruiting of 80 new employees between April and May, 1999 by Dragonara Casino Limited meant less tips for existing staff if new staff were allowed a share in the tips,

But the new employees were promised a share of the tips and received their share in September and October.

This led the CEU to threaten industrial action claiming that Dragonara Casino Limited had no right to change an existing collective agreement signed when Casma Limited still ran the casino.

But Dragonara Company Limited claimed that the method of dividing the tips among new employees was never meant to be detrimental to Casma employees but was rather an attempt to ensure that all employees in the gaming section received tips.

Dr Andrew Borg Cardona was counsel to Dragonara Casino Limited as represented by senior human resources manager Anthony De Giovanni, while Dr Melvyn Mifsud was counsel to the union as represented by president John Grech Mallia and secretary Joseph Camilleri.