New Jersey and union ask judge to dismiss anti-smoking lawsuit

The main union for casino workers in Atlantic City and the New Jersey attorney general are asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit from another union that wants to stop smoking at the city’s nine casinos.

Local 54, part of the Unite Here union, said in court that if smoking were banned, 1/3 of the 10,000 workers they represent could lose their jobs and not be able to support their families.

Right now, people can smoke on 25 percent of the casino floor. However, those areas are not connected, and as a result, secondhand smoke can be found in different parts of the casino floor.

A lawsuit filed by the United Auto Workers wants to change a law in New Jersey that bans smoking indoors in most workplaces, but allows it in casinos. The workers represent dealers at Bally’s, Caesars, and Tropicana casinos.

Matthew Platkin, the lawyer for the Democratic Governor of New Jersey, represented him. Phil Murphy and the state health department said that the indoor smoking law is fair to everyone and does not take away anyone’s rights. They want the court to throw out the case.

Nancy Erika Smith, the lawyer who submitted the lawsuit, was very surprised by the request from Local 54.

“She said unions always fight for their members’ health and safety. ” “Thankfully, Unite’s economic arguments are not important for the current constitutional issue, even though they are not true. ”

Donna DeCaprio is in charge of Local 54, a group that helps hotel workers, beverage servers, baggage handlers, public area cleaners and other workers at nine casinos.

“We want to make the work environment better to keep our members healthy and safe,” she said on Monday. “We need to find a balance that keeps workers healthy and keeps their jobs secure. ”

DeCaprio thinks a complete ban on smoking would be really bad for Atlantic City. He said that most of the money from in-person gamblers comes from the areas where people can smoke.

The union supports a new law that wants to keep the casino floor’s smoking limit at 25 per cent.

However, people can smoke in certain parts of the casino where there are slot machines and it’s at least 15 feet away from the tables with live dealers. It would also let casinos have special rooms for people to smoke in, as long as those rooms have good ventilation. And no employee can be made to work in those rooms if they don’t want to.

Should smoking be banned in Atlantic City casinos and other states where workers are worried about breathing in secondhand smoke. They are running similar campaigns in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Virginia.

The smoking ban could make many people lose their jobs and that would affect their pay, health, and retirement benefits. The union wrote this in a court document.

In 2008, when Atlantic City banned smoking in casinos, their profits dropped by 19. 8 percent in the first week. This led to the current rule that only 25 percent of the casino floors can be for smoking.

Some workers, like table game dealers, think that not allowing smoking at the casino would bring in more customers than it would lose.

Nicole Vitola, who works as a dealer at Borgata, is leading the effort to ban smoking at the casino. She said that the workers’ union, Local 54, is acting the same as the casino’s bosses.

“She said that instead of trying to protect the workers’ health and safety, Local 54 is going to court to let casinos continue to expose their members to harmful secondhand smoke. “