Union concerned about job losses in casino industry
Wednesday, July 4th 2007
The Union of Members Club and Lottery Workers (UMCLW) is calling on Government to deal with concerns the State has with foreigners running members clubs and casinos, rather than close down the industry and put thousands of local employees on the breadline.
Andy Creece, president of the UMCLW, made the call yesterday as he addressed a media conference at the headquarters of the National Union of Federated Workers (NUGFW) in Port of Spain.
The conference was called to apprise the public of developments coming out of a meeting which they had on Monday with Conrad Enill, Minister in the Ministry of Finance.
Creece, who was accompanied by other executives of the union, said that Enill told union members present at the meeting that the Government was mainly "concerned about the foreign involvement in the industry and the type of foreigners involved" and this was one of the main reasons they were moving to clamp down on the industry.
He contended that it would be unfair for the Government to put thousands of locals involved in the gaming industry on the breadline "simply because it has a problem with these foreign owners", he said, adding that he did not think that 7,000 workers' lives should be disrupted because the Govenment could not control the foreign element.
Creece added: "If the Government is concerned about the Turkish people who come into the country and open private members club casinos, the Chinese and Malaysians as well, if they are concerned about that, then they should put the law and legislation in effect to deal with that.
"Clearly it is the union's opinion that this is an issue for the Government to sort out. These foreigners need to be dealt with," he said.
UNC Senator Cindy Gibbs-Nicholas, who also addressed members of the media yesterday, said that Enill wanted to know how many slot machines there were in Trinidad and Tobago and how many of them were actually owned by foreign and by locally controlled membership clubs.
She said the union was expected to submit this information to the minister by tomorrow. |
World Casino Directory 
Gambling Forums 
