Holland Casino agrees pay rises with unions

Holland Casino will increase wages and give staff an additional one-off payment despite a drop in revenue.

The Netherlands.- Holland Casino has agreed pay rises plus a one-off extra payment to cover employees against rising inflation. In negotiations with two unions, FNV and De Unie, it has committed to a 2.5 per cent pay increase from this month plus a €350 one-off payment for all full-time staff.

The collective labour agreement, which runs to the end of September 2023, also includes the addition of a nominal €60 per month on a structural basis. The new minimum wage will be €14 per hour, and wages will be upped by another 0.75 per cent at the start of next year.

Marleen Berk, human resources director at Holland Casino, said: “For Holland Casino, the past two years have been dominated by the impact of the Coronavirus. We were forced to close our doors for months and were confronted by many restrictive measures.

“In discussions about wages, we had to take into account Holland Casino’s financial position on the one hand, and inflation and the labour market situation on the other. I am pleased that we have achieved a good result in a relatively short period of time. With this increase, there is a balanced agreement that is good for our employees and for Holland Casino.”

Holland Casino reported an 8.7 per cent year-on-year drop in revenue to €304.2m for 2021. New revenue from regulated online gaming was not sufficient to make up for the impact of Covid-19 countermeasures on land-based operations, with casinos closed for 168 days in 2021.

In May, Holland Casino named Petra de Ruiter as its new CEO. She will replace Erwin van Lambaart who announced his departure last month to take up the CEO position at Casinos Austria. De Ruiter is currently chief operating officer at aviation group Transavia, where she is responsible for business operations. She has also worked in roles at Air France-KLM.

She will take up her new position at Holland Casino in September assuming she passes the background checks. There she will work with chief financial officer Ruud Bergervoet and chief operating officer Malinda Miener.

The European Casino Association (ECA) announced that Holland Casino’s vice president of gaming and services Pieter Boers will join its board to replace Erwin van Lambaart as the representative for The Netherlands. Meanwhile, Holland Casino has promoted Malinda Miener to the position of chief compliance officer.