SBM cashiers on strike on GP weekend
Strikers are demanding greater pay equity © Union des Syndicats de Monaco
The employees are due to return to work on Monday.
It’s a great time for industrial action. In the middle of the Grand Prix, a showcase event for the Principality and a particularly profitable period for the establishments that are frequented by tourists, forty of the Société des Bains de Mer’s cashiers went out on strike Thursday morning for four days.
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They staged a sit-in, in front of the Louis II stadium, near the SBM headquarters. They are demanding pay equity and regret “doing so at this time, but [it was necessary] in order to be heard.” “We have been talking to them for three years,” Luigino Bonomelli, the union’s general secretary, explained to Nice-Matin.
According to the union, women and Monegasques are paid less than some of their colleagues, so they are asking for better pay equity through a collective agreement specific to the department that handles gambling chips “in the same way as Games and Automated Tellers.”
The SBM denies any discrimination and points out that “the average monthly salary in the section amounts to €5,666, bonuses and profit-sharing included.” In addition, there are “particularly attractive working conditions, rest periods and working hours.”
Government and National Council support SBM
Last night, the Prince’s Government reacted to the strike notice filed by the SBM cashiers.
“The Government supports the SBM Management’s position as expressed in its press release and encourages the union’s representatives to engage in dialogue rather than actions that go against the interests of the majority of employees.” It adds that it can only “regret the Union des Syndicats de Monaco‘s habit in recent years, of using major national events as a means of exerting pressure, rather than consultation.”
Prior to the Government’s statement, Thomas Brezzo, President of the National Council, said he was “surprised that a minority should choose this moment (…) to strike in order to make their demands heard.” “The SBM’s social model leaves no one by the wayside and many are fortunate to be working for such a company,” he said.