Name: Coronavirus triggers layoffs in Vegas, leaves workers in Reno on edge
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Coronavirus triggers layoffs in Vegas, leaves workers in Reno on edge

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Reno Gazette JournalView CommentsLAS VEGAS – A week ago, convention crew chief&nbsp;Diann Foster had&nbsp;one word for&nbsp;coronavirus: overhyped.Now she's struggling to understand&nbsp;how so much could go so wrong so fast.A Las Vegas convention builder and breaker for almost two decades, the 48-year-old Teamsters Local 631 foreman&nbsp;thought little about COVID-19&nbsp;canceling&nbsp;a few&nbsp;shows.That was before the&nbsp;nixing&nbsp;of the NAB Show. Produced by the National Association of Broadcasters, the&nbsp;fourth largest convention in Las Vegas&nbsp;had staffed&nbsp;2,500 behind-the-scenes union workers. Today, every one&nbsp;is out of work.&nbsp;"It is detrimental," Foster said. "We were banking on this show to compensate for the ones that canceled –&nbsp;but everything has canceled right before our eyes."COVID-19 spread is intensifying across Nevada. Fallout in Las Vegas&nbsp;has already&nbsp;devastated&nbsp;on-the-ground workers whose paychecks depend on serving hundreds of thousands of convention-goers, but that&nbsp;market has atrophied in an unprecedented&nbsp;response to the pandemic.The&nbsp;cancellations&nbsp;came&nbsp;at a cost: Laid off warehouse crews. Up to 90 hours of&nbsp;regular pay plus&nbsp;overtime a week&nbsp;lost.&nbsp;Many left with no choice but to look for new jobs.In Northern Nevada,&nbsp;impact in the service sector&nbsp;has&nbsp;been slower&nbsp;to form. Workers feel like they've entered a game of wait-and-see. They fear&nbsp;the worst has yet to come.&nbsp;Conventions like the NAB Show provided workers like Foster&nbsp;a solid&nbsp;routine,&nbsp;a blue-collar ritual she knows&nbsp;well.Every day for two weeks, the alarm clock would ring&nbsp;at 4 a.m. The pot of coffee would brew as&nbsp;the shower ran, and Foster would be&nbsp;out the door and in the convention hall&nbsp;for a 6 a.m. start.She'd work until 7 p.m., return home and get ready&nbsp;for the routine&nbsp;to repeat – again and again and again – until quitting time.Now there’s no work,&nbsp;no routine,&nbsp;no paycheck.&nbsp;Where is the coronavirus?:When the spread of COVID-19 forced NAB Show organizers to cancel this week,&nbsp;Foster and her workers shared the same&nbsp;reaction.&nbsp;"Oh my god, what are we going to do?"&nbsp;she said. "Some of us are in&nbsp;panic mode right now, but some of us are getting ready to go into panic mode."&nbsp;In Northern Nevada, with one-third the number of Las Vegas' cases as of Thursday, workers and business owners have taken a wait-and-see approach to the outbreak.COVID-19 hasn’t impacted them too badly — though nerves are beginning to pique.“To be honest it’s hard to tell right now,” said Tyler Colton, owner of The Emerson cocktail&nbsp;bar in Midtown Reno.Coronavirus updates:Numbers were down early this week but picked back up on Wednesday. This weekend, he said, will be a good indicator for what the future might hold.His staff — who, like others in the service industry, rely on tips — are worried&nbsp;the virus will scare people away.“My bar staff is nervous — you know, everyone is a little on edge," he said. "We’re just hoping Nevada gets spared."Skip Daly, a Nevada assemblyman (D-31) and business manager at the Laborer’s Union Local 169, said the union’s&nbsp;1,200 members haven't seen much change&nbsp;yet.The craft laborers are not usually eligible for sick leave, but the union&nbsp;is preparing to negotiate that&nbsp;benefit&nbsp;for members.&nbsp;At the very least, Daly&nbsp;said, workers who fall ill and can’t work are&nbsp;eligible for unemployment. Tommy Blitsch has been with Teamsters Local 631 in Las Vegas for more than 25 years. Now secretary-treasurer, Blitsch worked through 9/11 and the recession, but none of those brought his&nbsp;world to&nbsp;stand-still like COVID-19.&nbsp;"It looks like now through April, we're seeing a lot of cancellations, which means a lot of people aren't going to be working," Blitsch said. "It's going to have a severe impact on some households."Workers have come to Blitsch with questions about&nbsp;the future, but — like many in the grips of this intensifying&nbsp;pandemic —&nbsp;he doesn’t have many answers."This is something totally out of our control," he said. "We need to make sure we're ready when the shows come back to answer the bell."&nbsp;Impact:Ed KomendaView Comments

Reno Gazette JournalView CommentsLAS VEGAS – A week ago, convention crew chief&nbsp;Diann Foster had&nbsp;one word for&nbsp;coronavirus: overhyped.Now she's struggling to understand&nbsp;how so much could go so wrong so fast.A Las Vegas convention builder and breaker for almost two decades, the 48-year-old Teamsters Local 631 foreman&nbsp;thought little about COVID-19&nbsp;canceling&nbsp;a few&nbsp;shows.That was before the&nbsp;nixing&nbsp;of the NAB Show. Produced by the National Association of Broadcasters, the&nbsp;fourth largest convention in Las Vegas&nbsp;had staffed&nbsp;2,500...

Coronavirus triggers layoffs in Vegas, leaves workers in Reno on edge

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