Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020 | 7 p.m.
Labor unions in Las Vegas began a campaign Tuesday to get area lawmakers to require employers to return furloughed casino, tourism, hospitality, airport, entertainment and hospital employees to their jobs when the coronavirus pandemic ebbs and business resumes.
Several hundred idled workers demonstrated at the Clark County Government Center before representatives asked the all-Democratic county commission to consider a law Sept. 1 giving workers a “Right to Return” to former positions.
“I’m here because they should respect my seniority,” said Moises Cuellar, an out-of-work casino employee with nearly 10 years’ experience at the New York-New York resort on the Las Vegas Strip. Like many in the crowd, he wore a red Culinary Union T-shirt.
The 52-year-old married father of two said he has a home and a mortgage, and he was worried that co-workers with less time on the job have already been called back to work.
The Nevada State AFL-CIO said the fledgling “Save Our Jobs” drive represents some 87,000 Nevada nurses, bartenders, operating engineers, service employees, teamsters, auto industry and stage and theatrical workers.
“We want people to have peace of mind, to get through the pandemic and still have jobs,” said Geoconda Argüello-Kline, a top official with the powerful local Culinary Workers Union.
