{"id":27990,"date":"2020-09-16T08:12:39","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T16:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=27990"},"modified":"2020-09-18T09:57:16","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T17:57:16","slug":"massachusetts-strong-housekeepers-under-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/massachusetts-strong-housekeepers-under-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts strong; Housekeepers under threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Gambling win was down only 17% in Massachusetts<\/strong> last month for a statewide gross of $71 million. Plainridge Park<\/strong> posted $10 million for an average of $273\/win\/slot\/day (it was $325 the previous August), dropping 16% on 16% less coin-in. So far it’s tracking down 27% for the year, versus JP Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong>‘s -35% projection. MGM Springfield<\/strong> slipped 12% to $18.5 million, with slots down 10% ($178\/win\/slot\/day) and tables off 17%. Encore Boston Harbor<\/strong>, gobbling up the Bay State with 60% market share, grossed a whopping $42.5 million, threatening Plainridge Park with $238 win\/slot\/day for a $23 million haul, while tables won $4,301\/table\/day. Slot handle was $305 million, down 15%. Considering all the hurdles Massachusetts casinos have had to overcome we’d say these results are better than expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American Lung Association<\/strong> was quick to praise MGM Resorts International<\/strong> for its smokeless Park MGM<\/strong> and up the ante: “We applaud the decision of MGM Resort [sic<\/em>] International for adopting a smokefree workplace policy for Park MGM and NoMad Las Vegas<\/strong>. This policy will protect the health of workers and customers from dangerous secondhand smoke and e-cigarette emissions. Most of MGM Resort [sic<\/em>] International\u2019s U.S. properties are now at least temporarily smokefree, and we encourage them to make all U.S. properties smokefree permanently.” We can hope, can’t we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Could the resort industry being using Covid-19<\/strong> as a stalking horse<\/a> to stealthily attack its own workforce? That’s what some housekeepers are telling the New York Times<\/em>. They say the cutback on daily room cleanings, ostensibly for reasons of health, is a cover for permanent job cuts. (Much as Las Vegas<\/strong> casinos used 9\/11 <\/strong>as cover for eviscerating payrolls.) The new equation, say housekeepers, is more work per day for less money. Never trust the casino to be above using one person to do the work of four. (Under Columbia Sussex<\/strong>, the Tropicana Las Vegas<\/strong> was an extreme example of this.) Chartres Lodging<\/strong> Group CEO Robert Kline<\/strong> responds, \u201cThe vast majority of our customers don\u2019t want us cleaning their room while they are staying with us. They want to know the room is clean when they enter, but once they occupy that room they are saying, \u2018Don\u2019t come in.\u2019\u201d To which Unite-Here<\/strong> Vice President Nia Winston<\/strong> says, \u201cDaily room cleaning is required in China<\/strong> and Hong Kong<\/strong> and other places that have successfully contained the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although hotels are reopening, they’re slow to call housekeepers back, with 25% still unemployed. The ones who are working aren’t on call as often and, when they are, they come back to dirtier rooms which take longer to clean properly. (Guests who throw Coronavirus<\/strong>-friendly parties in their rooms make the job that much harder.) Nor are hotels allocating more time to clean to compensate for the ‘new normal,’ which is looking a lot like the same old same-old. Josh Herman<\/strong>, vice president of PR at the Fontainebleau<\/strong> in Miami<\/strong>, offered the usual mouthwash: \u201cWhile the enhanced cleaning protocols are more costly to execute, both in supplies and labor, the health and safety of our guests and team members are always our highest priority.\u201d Adds Hyatt<\/strong> senior veep Frank Lavey<\/strong>, tourists \u201care returning to Hyatt hotels with new expectations around cleanliness, which includes limiting potential contact points, especially within the guest room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Las Vegas and Atlantic City<\/strong> would be well advised to adopt ordinances like San Francisco’s, which requires daily guest-room cleanings (among other measures) unless customers expressly veto it. The hotel industry is fighting this tooth and nail, complaining that its over-leveraged properties would collapse financially if forced to do the right thing. It’s the old, pernicious false equivalency of lives vs. economy. Hotel industry lobbyist Chip Rogers<\/strong> tried to paint Unite-Here as the villain: \u201cRight now there are no profits to split and everyone is losing money. To have these fights now is counterproductive. It\u2019s hurting employees.\u201d The targeting of housekeepers for job cutbacks is also a form of institutionalized racism. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/strong>, 71% of maids and housekeepers are people of color, many of immigrant extraction. Stick that in your ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ pipe and smoke it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and protective gear is said to be in short supply. (Sound familiar?) Housekeepers report having to wear the same mask for a week or to clean while using only one glove. Ofelia Carde\u00f1as<\/strong> cut to the chase: \u201cI see they don\u2019t care about the worker. They care about their bottom line. If they cared, they\u2019d have enough gloves, they\u2019d come see how we are doing.\u201d Not much chance of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casino Candor Dept<\/strong>.: \u201cOther places have fire and water shows and surf shows. Well, our thing is coin slot machines.\u201d\u2014El Cortez<\/strong> GM Adam Wiesberg<\/strong> on the Las Vegas coin shortage<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gambling win was down only 17% in Massachusetts last month for a statewide gross of $71 million. Plainridge Park posted $10 million for an average of $273\/win\/slot\/day (it was $325 the previous August), dropping 16% on 16% less coin-in. So … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,14,270,117,283,112,245,69,196,38,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27990"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27991,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27990\/revisions\/27991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}