- Title: "I won't be alive to work" -Las Vegas union wants sick leave, quarantine pay
- Date: 1st May 2020
- Summary: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PLAYING SLOT MACHINES INSIDE CAESAR'S PALACE HOTEL AND CASINO
- Embargoed: 15th May 2020 11:01
- Keywords: Las Vegas coronavirus culinary workers unemployment workers
- Location: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES
- City: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA007CC3M2BR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:With Las Vegas casinos closed and their winking slot machines turned off due to coronavirus, America's gambling mecca is a ghost town. But shutting down the businesses that make Las Vegas a multi-billion dollar hub of gambling and entertainment has dealt a crushing blow to the region and idled tens of thousands of workers.
But with a dozen members dead and others sickened, the powerful union representing Las Vegas' bartenders and casino employees, Culinary Workers, is not pushing for a fast-reopening.
Instead the union, which is influential with Democratic politicians who lead the swing state, is negotiating hard for safety measures and paid leave for workers sidelined by the virus.
"If I go back too early, I won't be able to be alive to work," said Olee Stewart, 59, a cook at Harrah's Las Vegas Hotel and Casino who is a member of the union. "When it's safe for everyone, I think we should go back."
The tough, high stakes negotiations between the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Local 226 and Nevada's storied casinos echo talks taking place across the United States, as businesses, politicians and workers scramble to find a safe way to save lives without further destroying the U.S. economy.
The Culinary Workers union is asking casinos to pay employees who are idled by the pandemic and provide six months worth of health coverage to those who are laid off, according to a list of eight negotiating points seen by Reuters.
The union is also asking for paid sick leave and quarantine time to those who are ill or exposed to the virus. It also wants enhanced cleaning for the casinos and training for employees who will have to use harsh chemical cleaners to sanitize gaming areas, guest rooms, kitchens and other areas.
"Workers, they have fears, the want to come back but they have fears, you know, to get infected," said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, Secretary-Treasurer of the Culinary Workers local 226.
"We want to have the PPE regulations, we want people to be taking temperatures, we want to have a mask, we want to have gloves, we want to have distance. We want to protect the workers, workers' families and we want to protect the tourists and want the tourists to follow the regulations too," she added.
Arguello-Kline stopped short of threatening employee walkouts that could disrupt re-opening plans.
The discussions in Las Vegas will likely leave the gambling hub - as with many parts of the country - a different place than it was before the virus hit, with Plexiglas separating dealers and players, and waiters possibly donning masks in restaurants.
The tension between companies' need to reopen shuttered plants and union concerns about safety are also playing out in other industries and other regions.
President Donald Trump's order this week ordering meat-processing plants to stay open to protect the food supply in the United States, despite concerns about coronavirus outbreaks, drew a sharp backlash from unions that said at-risk workers required more protection.
Ford Motor Co on Thursday outlined the safety measures it will institute to restart its most profitable U.S. plants following similar efforts by General Motors Co and Fiat Chrysler to convince leaders of the United Auto Workers union to send members back to work.
Public health experts say it is far too soon to allow the kinds of mass gatherings that happen in a place like Las Vegas, where tourists jam casinos, restaurants and even the sidewalks. But the economic devastation wrought by public health orders closing businesses and forcing residents to shelter at home is also a powerful incentive to loosen the orders.
In Nevada, nearly 350,000 people have filed for unemployment benefits since the shutdowns began - a quarter of the state's workforce, said Stephen Miller, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The shutdowns and slow return of tourism after the casinos reopen could lead to losses of 20 percent of the Las Vegas metropolitan area's gross domestic product, or more than $20 billion, Miller said.
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