{"id":777028645,"date":"2025-07-04T08:37:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777028645"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:16:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:16:37","slug":"pay-dispute-sparks-walkout-at-the-star-brisbane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pay-dispute-sparks-walkout-at-the-star-brisbane","title":{"rendered":"Pay dispute sparks walkout at The Star Brisbane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Workers have staged a strike over wage stagnation and penalty rate cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- Hundreds of employees at The Star Brisbane staged a two-hour strike this afternoon due to stalled pay negotiations and proposed cuts to penalty rates. Backed by the United Workers Union (UWU), gaming floor staff, bartenders, restaurant workers and housekeepers say they\u2019re earning little more than the minimum wage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strike was timed to coincide with peak Friday foot traffic. Union president Jo Schofield said the workers are being offered just a 4 per cent pay increase over three years, paired with cuts to Sunday penalty rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is an insulting offer that doesn\u2019t come close to meeting cost-of-living pressures,” Schofield stated, warning that the lowest-paid workers, including cleaners and housekeepers, would be the most affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bartender Kaine Kennedy noted wage disparities between Brisbane and Sydney operations. “Doing the same job at Star Sydney would earn me at least AUD2 (US$1.3) more per hour,” he said. “We just want wage parity and respect for our work.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Star Entertainment, which employs nearly 2,000 people at its Brisbane casino, said in a statement it was “disappointed” by the industrial action, and had made “diligent and measured” offers to workers while navigating challenging financial conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to its failure to post financial results earlier this year, Star is facing uncertainty over an AUD53m (US$34m) sale of its stake in the Queen\u2019s Wharf project. Equity partners Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium have issued a notice to terminate the deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, shareholders approved a AUD300m (US$197m) rescue package<\/a> backed by US casino operator Bally\u2019s and investor Bruce Mathieson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli stated: \u201cI don\u2019t care what happens in the boardrooms. I care about the workers. They deserve stability and a voice, and they have every right to speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Star DBC sale faces uncertainty as partners exit<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workers have staged a strike over wage stagnation and penalty rate cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777022995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Hundreds of employees at The Star Brisbane initiated a two-hour strike over stalled wage negotiations and proposed cuts to Sunday penalty rates, demanding a more substantial pay increase than the offered 4% over three years. This industrial action coincides with Star Entertainment's ongoing financial challenges, including uncertainty over an AUD53m asset sale and a recently approved AUD300m rescue package.","focusai_entities":"The Star Brisbane, United Workers Union, UWU, Jo Schofield, Kaine Kennedy, Star Entertainment, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, Far East Consortium, Bally's, Bruce Mathieson, David Crisafulli","focusai_location":"Australia, Brisbane, Sydney, Queensland","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.75), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on Star's Financials?","query":"What is the projected financial impact of this industrial action on Star Entertainment's Q4 operational performance and its ongoing recovery plan, particularly given its existing financial distress and recent capital injection?"},{"label":"Regulatory Response Expected?","query":"Will the Queensland regulatory bodies or government initiate further oversight or intervention regarding Star Entertainment's operational stability and governance frameworks, considering the ongoing labor disputes and financial uncertainties?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,157],"tags":[289,24103],"class_list":["post-777028645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-business-news","tag-australia","tag-star-entertainment-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777028645"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777028672,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028645\/revisions\/777028672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777022995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777028645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777028645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777028645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}