Workers in Las Vegas are still feeling the effects of employers’ pandemic cuts – all made worse by rising inflation and low wages
n the rotating restaurant at the top of the Strat hotel and casino, guests can once again enjoy $20 cocktails or a $90 shellfish display for two while taking in the expansive views of downtownfrom its landmark tower. After the Covid shutdown, Vegas is back in business. But not everyone seems happy, or sure how long it will last.
Las Vegas has been on a roll recently. Few cities were hit as hard financially by the pandemic. Now the tables are open again, gambling revenues are at new highs, hotel occupancies are climbing, conventioneers are back in town. But the mood is strained. Worker after worker said they were still feeling the effects of cuts made by their employers during the pandemic and were now suffering as inflation drove up prices and wages failed to keep up.
“It’s becoming a more delicate situation every day,” said Brian Gordon, principal of Las Vegas-based economic analyst Applied Analysis. “Las Vegas was ground zero for what the pandemic meant: casinos had never shut down before,” he said. “Right at the time when the recovery is taking hold, global economic factors are taking a hold. Global inflation, supply chain challenges, rising interest rates, all of that is putting downwards pressure on spending,” he said. “It’s a very unique time.
Like many workers at the rally, Loreto said businesses seemed to be doing well “post-Covid”, but workers not so much. The culinary union – which represents 60,000 members in Las Vegas and Reno – is pushing for legislation to cap rent rises, which have been as much as 40% in the city. It is a force to be reckoned with, knocking on 650,000 doors in the last election andIt will be out in force to back progressive candidates again in the upcoming elections, hoping for structural change. Similar battles will play out across America as the election cycle spins faster.
Tourists agree. Friends Simon Payne and Nick Wadia, over from the UK for a golf and gambling holiday, have been very disappointed with Vegas hospitality. “We’ve not once seen a housemaid. I had no towels,” said Payne. When they had interacted with staff, they had been unhelpful and ill-informed, they said. “They just seem really unhappy in their jobs,” said Wadia.