Differing Opinions from Unions Over Smoking Ban in Atlantic City

By Jerry Smith Staff Writer Updated: 05/09/2022

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Differing Opinions from Unions Over Smoking Ban

It has emerged that there is a difference of opinion between two unions that represent casino workers over the issue relating to indoor smoking in Atlantic City casinos. The two unions represent thousands of workers between them who work at the nine resorts in the area. They are the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Unite Here Local 54.

While one of the unions, UAW, is keen for lawmakers to pass legislation to get smoking banned in Atlantic City casinos, the other, Unite Here Local 54, is keen to see smoking continue in casinos.

At present, Senate Bill 264 and Assembly Bill 2151 are both identical bills that seek to put an end to smoking in casinos. However, little has been done to move forward with them since they were introduced.

Unite Here Local 54 Opposed to Ban

With the two bills still sitting idle, members of the Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee have been accused of dragging their feet. The Senate bill was introduced at the start of the year and was quickly followed by the Assembly bill a month later.

The president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, Joe Lupo, said that it was currently a bad time to introduce a smoking ban in the area.

He said that although there had been some gains in the gaming industry, rises in inflation were taking their toll, and banning smoking at this stage could prove financially harmful to casinos. This is because it could discourage people from visiting.

This is something that the president of Local 54, Bob McDevitt, referred to when he agreed that smoking should not be banned inside casinos in Atlantic City.

McDevitt said that this would have a huge negative impact on the number of people visiting casinos and would ultimately result in financial losses at a time when the industry is just starting to get back on its feet following the global pandemic.

UAW Holds Different Opinion

However, the regional director of UAW, Jeffrey Binz, takes a different stance on indoor smoking. He said that casinos can thrive without people smoking indoors, adding that this was something that has been seen across the country and was, therefore, proven. Binz also said that the risks facing casino workers due to people smoking in casinos were significant and needed to be addressed. He added:

We have heard the financial scare tactics laid out by the casinos. But nothing is more frightening than the numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with regard to second-hand smoke. We know that casinos will thrive without indoor smoke causing a slow death to the employees.

Prior to the onset of the global pandemic, smoking inside the casinos was something that was taken for granted. However, during the pandemic, many things changed after casinos reopened following several months of closure.

The need to wear masks inside the casino meant that there were changes to smoking policies, and many now want smoking inside the properties to become a thing of the past.