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With Most Members Out of Work, UNITE HERE Calls for Worker Bailout
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Mar. 19, 2020 | ECONOMY | Perhaps no industry in the U.S. has been hit harder by the COVID-19 epidemic than hospitality. The UNITE HERE union estimates that 80% to 90% of its 300,000 members in the hotel, gaming, food service, and transportation industries have been laid off. Entertainment venues, professional sports, and tourist sites from Disney World in Florida to Seattle’s Space Needle have shut down voluntarily or under “social distancing” orders. Hotels in Seattle and San Francisco have closed after occupancy rates collapsed to as low as 10%. Airline travel is plummeting. On Mar. 17, Nevada Gov. Stephen F. Sisolak ordered that casinos in the state be closed for 30 days. “What we are asking for today is a bailout for the American worker, not just for American industry,” UNITE HERE International President D. Taylor told a telephone press conference Mar. 18. If 9/11 was a security crisis and the 2008 recession an economic crisis, Taylor said, “this is a public-health crisis.” Labor Press
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