Macau casino workers join protests for higher wages as labour unrest sweeps territory
Faced with rising housing and living costs, thousands of employees have repeatedly joined protests for higher wages and better working conditions
Cloee Chao remembers when she first decided to challenge the billionaires of the world's largest gambling hub. The 34-year-old single mother of two was working in a Macau casino in 2012 and the second-hand smoke was so thick she started hacking up black phlegm.
Chao started a union, at first, just to get cleaner air. After her employer, Wynn Macau, and other casinos ignored them, the battle escalated. Since then, Chao has organised thousands of employees to fight for better wages and working conditions. She has led workers into the streets seven times this year in the most widespread labour unrest yet at Macau's casinos.
The protests threaten profits at some of the most lucrative businesses in the world. The former Portuguese colony has seen gambling revenue soar tenfold over the past decade to US$45.2 billion last year, seven times the size of the Las Vegas Strip. The billionaires behind the casinos include Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson, Wynn Resorts chairman Steve Wynn and Galaxy Entertainment Group founder Lui Che-woo.
Chao and her union are planning additional demonstrations, after at least 1,400 members turned out last week for the largest protest by casino workers so far this year. The clashes come as Macau has seen growth slow with a corruption crackdown on the mainland that has high rollers avoiding casinos.
"We don't rule out strikes or violent actions if the casino companies continue to ignore us and pretend nothing has happened," Chao said at the end of last week's protest organised by the Macau Gaming Industry Frontline Workers' union that she co-founded.