Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Casino Workers Are Fighting for the Air They Breathe
Casino Workers Are Fighting for the Air They BreatheWhy are our lives less important than every other employee in the state of New Jersey?
KIM KELLY MAY 15, 2024
(In These Times) Rome burned to the ground almost 2,000 years ago, but Caesars Palace in Atlantic City, N.J.,is still smoking. The sprawling casino, hotel and entertainment complex is a holdover from the citys mid-century glory days, where a visitor can still slurp down a shrimp cocktail and gamble to their hearts content and in some parts of the casino, light up a cigarette or a stogie and chain smoke the night away.
When New Jersey passed its Smoke-Free Air Act in 2006, casinos were a notable exemption. Now, Atlantic Citys casino workers, with help from the United Auto Workers, are fighting to close the loophole and clean up the air in their workplaces.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure, and even brief exposure can cause immediate harm to the respiratory and inflammatory systems. Beverly Quinn can vouch for that. Shes spent the past 42 years working at the Tropicana as a dealer and has seen just about everything during her time there. Bev??never Beverly??is in turn brassy and warm, a devoted 66-year-old grandmother who cares deeply for her coworkers and wont say no to a glass of sauvignon blanc. She also serves as the president of UAW Local 8888, which represents 3,000 casino workers at Ballys, Caesars and the Tropicana??and she is tired of chronic sinus problems that she attributes to working in a cloud of smoke.
Worker-led efforts to ban smoking in Atlantic Citys casinos have long struggled to gain ground against the casinos, whose executives insist that banning smoking will kill jobs, send patrons fleeing to other casinos where smoking is allowed and hurt the already fragile local gaming industry. Ever since the high rollers decamped to other gambling-friendly locales back in the 1970s, Atlantic Citys been down on its luck, a relic trapped in amber and knockoff Art Deco carpeting. .................(more)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/new-jersey-casino-workers-smoke-free
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
3 replies, 351 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (4)
ReplyReply to this post
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Casino Workers Are Fighting for the Air They Breathe (Original Post)
marmar
May 20
OP
MOMFUDSKI
(6,014 posts)1. I lived in Vegas for a year. It is a bowl with
the Strip being the lowest point. I lived up much higher. I could see the yellow/brown band hovering over the bowl from my vantage. The smog smothers the entire city at the lower level. I get the smoking part but the general air quality is terrible.
MichMan
(12,037 posts)2. Smoking in Casinos was banned in Michigan years ago, but Tribal Casinos (which is all of them) are exempt.
Aristus
(66,703 posts)3. With gamblers, the gambling is always the least-destructive addiction.
I dont know how those poor non-smoking casino workers do it.
If theres a smoker a mile away upwind of me, I can smell it and be revolted by it.
Being closed in with thousands of nicotine fiends must be a horror beyond imagining.