Workers at London’s Grosvenor Casinos to Go on 72-Hour Strike

Grosvenor Casinos across London may remain closed for the Sept 9-12 weekend after workers at the casinos voted in favor of a strike action proposal in demand of better pay.

Demanding a ‘Wage They Can Live On’

Commencing at 18:00 GMT on September 9 and running throughout 6:00 on September 12, the strike is set to leave seven land-based gaming locations in the capital closed: The Victoria, The Rialto, The Gloucester, The Park Tower, The Golden Horseshoe, The St Giles, and The Barracuda.

The strike action led by the Unite union is demanding Rank Group, which owns Grosvenor Casinos and made profits of £74.3 million ($85.4 million) for the six months ended June 30, 2022, to grant its workers a substantial pay rise.

“Here we go again: Grosvenor Casinos is another big money company that is raking it in but refusing to pay its workers a wage that they can live on,” Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, outlining that “it’s just not acceptable and this huge vote for action underscores the sense of anger across this workforce.”

According to the statement issued by Unite on Monday, out of around 150 workers across London’s Grosvenor Casinos, 91% voted to reject the bonus payments of £600 ($690) and £800 ($920) as “totally inadequate amid a grave and growing cost of living crisis.”

Most of them are croupiers and dealers but the list also includes workers in other areas such as food and beverage and kitchen staff that are ready to fight for a more realistic offer from their employer, one that will reflect the spike in living costs as inflation is currently at 12% and is set to go higher.

‘Only a Substantial Uplift in Pay Will Do’

Underlining that “London is one of the most expensive cities on earth for workers to survive,” Unite’s national officer for the hospitality sector Dave Turnbull stated that “only a substantial uplift in pay will do,” calling on Grosvenor Casinos’ understanding that the workers are united and determined to get what they want and they are growing in numbers every day.

“Against the backdrop of an extremely challenging trading environment for Rank, and for the sector as a whole, we have made a strong offer which we believe fairly addresses the current cost of living crisis,” a spokesperson for Rank Group said in a statement expressing the company’s disappointment at the move.

The move by Grosvenor Casinos’ workers is the latest in a series of strike actions initiated across different sectors in the UK, including criminal trial lawyers, postal staff, dock workers, bus drivers, airport and railway employees, and others, all demanding pay rises amid double-digit inflation and the soaring energy bills.