Casino Workers Concerned About Personal Safety Upon Return to Work

Casino Workers Concerned About Personal Safety Upon Return to Work

Casino workers in Las Vegas are in no hurry to return to work. They are concerned that their personal safety could be at risk during the coronavirus pandemic.

Union talks about safety issues

Unite Here, a union representing workers from food service, hotel, and casino industries highlighted that about 95% of its members are preset sitting at home. It has over 300,000 members of whom about 100,000 are employed by casinos. Over 98% of these casino workers are not working at present.

Casino Workers Concerned About Personal Safety Upon Return to Work

A majority of workers have been laid off by their respective employers and there are collecting both state and federal unemployment benefits. Only Wynn Resorts, which has a unionized workforce is an exception in the state as it is paying all its employees presently.

All commercial casinos in the US are presently shut down and none of them have plans for reopening anytime soon. Though some states have proposed staggered reopening of businesses, casinos and gaming properties are not amongst their priorities. Some tribal casinos have already started opening their gates to the public because their sovereign communities depend extensively on the revenue generated via gaming activities.

No rush to reopen

A lot of unionized casino workers feel that gaming properties should not be in a rush to reopen their businesses. Though the casinos have been closed since mid-March, some workers believe that they will be at great personal risk when they get back to work.

Casinos will be following physical distancing norms which means that there will be vacant seats between gamers and guests may have to go through body temperature checks before they enter the premises. They may also bring hand sanitizer stations, positioned across the premises to keep their guests and workers safe. Food and drinks serving protocols may also change during this time. It is unclear how exactly casinos will cope with this issue but guidelines are expected to pour in soon.

About sherlock

Sherlock Gomes loves to write and express his views on anything related to Gaming, Gambling, & Casino. He has been covering Gaming for more than two years now.