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On Friday, August 12,hundreds of employees of the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex took to the streets and marched in protest of what they claim to be insufficient wages for weekend work.

After meeting outside near the Melbourne Convention Centre, a group of between 150 and 200 casino dealers, restaurant workers, security staff, front desk agents, and other Crown employees then marched along Yarra Promenade, some holding self-styled signs and others chanting their collective objection to current weekend wages.

According to union representatives, the 5,500-stong staff of Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex – the largest casino operation in Australia – are routinely paid the same wage for working over the weekend as workers who occupy weekday shifts. Specifically, employees who work the ‘graveyard’ shift from 7pm to 7am on Saturday or Sunday are demanding an increase of between AUD$2.31 and AUD$3.00 per hour in their salary.

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Speaking with the Fairfax Media, table games dealer and union delegate Matt Poynter described his own experience working at the Southbank facility, where his position requires him to be on duty from 8pm to 4am the majority of nights, including weekends:

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“We miss the general life events that the normal 9-to-5 people take for granted because they are free of an evening. I signed up knowing what I was getting into. This is the nature of shift work but it can be quite damaging as far as relationships are concerned and there needs to be a recognition of this personal impact.”

During the Friday march, Fairfax spoke with Zoe Riddle, a croupier at Crown who had her 18-month-old son William in tow as she addressed her colleagues.

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“We’re here not only for ourselves, but for our families. And we know that what we’re asking for is just fair recognition for the contribution to the success of our casino.”

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“This is just the beginning. We’re going to keep the pressure up on Crown until they put a real deal on the table. Tonight there are hundreds of us but we know we’re backed by thousands of workers here at the casino … we are stronger than ever and we have the public support. We’re going to win.”

Other speakers in attendance described having gone several years running without a proper Christmas holiday with their family, the impact of overnight hours on personal relationships, and other grievances associated with weekend shifts which would be remedied by incentive pay.

The dispute between Crown and its employees has been ongoing since April of this year, and the union recently rejected an offer to raise wages across the board by 2.75 percent.

Responding to the union’s demands and the Friday march, Crown Resorts Limited issued a statement to clarify that the company prefers paying employees flat wage which is higher than industry standard, rather than including incentives and bonuses for weekend or graveyard shifts.

“Crown employees continue to receive higher pay and conditions than the tourism and hospitality industry. Negotiations are ongoing and we are constructively working with the union to resolve the agreement in a timely manner,” the statement said.

According to Crown’s statement, ‘grade-two food and beverage attendants’ take home AUD$18.48 per hour, totaling AUD$36,950 a year, while ‘first-year table games dealers’ pocket home nearly AUD$20 an hour, or just over AUD $39,260 annually.

The operator of Café Baci at Melbourne's Crown Casino is facing court for allegedly short-changing 54 workers.

In a claim brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman against Melbourne man Len Di Pietro and his company Ital One Holdings Pty Ltd, it is alleged that his employees were underpaid a total of $73,347.

This is not the first time that Di Pietro, who owns and operates Café Baci as well as a number of other cafes and restaurants across Melbourne, has been in hot water for underpaying workers.

The Ombudsman alleges that Di Pietro paid his employees a flat rate as low as $16 for all hours worked.

And that those affected were working as waiters, kitchen hands, chefs and in other roles, 25 of whom were visa holders from a variety of countries including France, Italy and India.

One employee on a 417 visa was allegedly underpaid $4,807 over a three month period in 2015. The individual should have received the award minimum wage of $23.09, but instead was paid a flat rate of $17.18.

Another employee, a food and beverage attendant, was allegedly underpaid $5,433 between June and September in 2016.

The Fair Work Ombudsman discovered most of the alleged underpayments when it conducted a proactive audit of Café Baci in 2015.

The alleged underpayments have now been 'almost fully rectified'.

The Ombudsman had previously put Di Pietro and Ital One Holdings on notice back in 2007 following 12 underpayment allegations.

In 2014, Ital One Holdings was ordered by the Federal Circuit Court to back-pay three workers a total of more than $32,000.

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Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says a key factor in the decision to commence legal action was that alleged underpayments of vulnerable workers had occurred despite the education provided to Di Pietro and Ital One Holdings.

She says, “It is simply unacceptable for an employer to continue to underpay workers after being directly educated on their obligations to meet minimum employee pay rates and having been ordered by a Court to back-pay workers.

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“We also treat cases involving underpayment of overseas workers particularly seriously because we are conscious that they can be vulnerable due to a lack of awareness of their entitlements, language barriers and a reluctance to complain.”

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Ital One Holdings faces penalties of up to $54,000 per contravention, while Di Pietro faces penalties of up to $10,800 per contravention.