AC CASINO DEALERS NIX SMOKING COMPROMISE
By James Hammer
Atlantic City casino dealers opposed to smoking indoors are rejecting an idea being floated among state legislators to create designated outdoor smoking areas that employees could opt out of staffing, according to the AP.
Pete Naccarelli, a Borgata dealer and a leader of a group of Atlantic City casino workers pushing for a full indoor smoking ban, said Tuesday the opt-out suggestion is not the solution to protecting workers and customers.
“The so-called opt-out idea only forces workers to risk their health for a paycheck,” he said. “It is not a solution at all.
“A casino worker living paycheck to paycheck should not have to risk their health by working in a smoking area just to get by,” he said. “But that’s exactly what would happen, and the most vulnerable workers would suffer most. Legislators should recognize the problematic scenario this would create and reject this half-baked idea.”
Last week dealers said that creating true outdoor smoking areas “could be a workable solution as long as no worker is exposed to secondhand smoke.”
But having any casino workers assigned to those areas — or evening having to pass through them on their way to other places in the casino — is not acceptable to them.
