In Macau, employees of local casino operator MGM China Holdings Limited reportedly staged demonstrations on Sunday and Monday in protest at the firm’s refusal to grant its non-management staff a one-off bonus equal to two month’s salary.

According to a report from GGRAsia, Hong Kong-listed MGM China Holdings Limited, which is a subsidiary of American casino giant MGM Resorts International, has granted a ‘discretionary bonus’ to eligible workers in each of the last two years that was equivalent to a month’s salary but has so far declined demands that the most recent windfall be doubled.

The Professional for Gaming of New Macau activist group told GGRAsia that some 2,000 people participated in Monday’s demonstration, which involved a march past the operator’s soon-to-open MGM Cotai integrated casino resort, although local police reportedly put the number at closer to 730. The previous day purportedly saw protesters gather outside MGM China Holdings Limited’s nearby MGM Macau venue in order to present a petition to a company representative that called for the bonus amount to be increased.

Lei Man Chao, Deputy Director for Professional for Gaming of New Macau, reportedly told GGRAsia that his group had collected some 1,600 signatures from MGM China Holdings Limited staff last week asking that the bonus be improved. He purportedly moreover declared that these signatories were chiefly employed in the ‘gaming department or some entry positions in security, in maintenance or in food and beverage’.

Lei reportedly explained that some of the MGM China Holdings Limited staff members he spoke to were additionally upset because they had not received a pay increase or promotion despite serving ‘in the same post for a few years’.

Moving forward, Lei reportedly told GGRAsia that his group was prepared to consider taking additional action against MGM China Holdings Limited should the operator not increase the bonus amount and also plans to meet with the government’s Labor Affairs Bureau on February 6 to further discuss the matter.

In a written statement sent to GGRAsia, MGM China Holdings Limited reportedly declared that it ‘values its team members’ and their ‘right to express their views’ and would ‘continue to be actively engaged in communicating directly with all our team members’.