Ten years after California's smokefree law went into effect, ANR, smokefree advocates, and organized labor are once again working together to ensure that every worker's right to breathe smokefree air on the job is protected in California. Workers in California are guaranteed work environments free from secondhand smoke exposure; unfortunately workers in tribal casinos are not.
The proposed expansion of Casino San Pablo, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, is gaining national attention. Although the casino originally opened as a smokefree establishment in 1995, its smokefree status was rescinded six years later when the land and gambling venue were transferred to the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's office has negotiated a compact with the Lytton Band, and now state legislators are deciding whether or not to ratify it. As of mid February, the compact outlined plans to expand the small cardroom into a 2,500 slot machine facility with the possibility of reopening the compact for future negotiations to build a Las Vegas style casino, employing up to 7,500 workers, thus making it the largest smoke-filled workplace in California. The compact calls for ventilation systems to be used rather than making the casino smokefree.
Casino workers are not happy with their smoke-filled work environment and believe that a smokefree workplace is a right all California workers deserve. James DesRosier, a poker dealer who has worked at Casino San Pablo since it opened in 1995, said: "I have asthma; several other people here have asthma. There have been shifts where I've literally thrown up."
DesRosier also disclosed that several pregnant employees were especially caught off guard when the Lytton Band rescinded the smokefree policy. Many of them quit, DesRosier said, while others are forced to sit there and take the smoke, knowing that it's very unhealthy for their child.
Casino employees are at greater risk for lung and heart disease because of secondhand smoke exposure than other hospitality workers. Even in "well-ventilated" establishments, casino employees have cotinine (metabolized nicotine) levels 300-600% higher than do workers in other smoking workplaces during a work shift, according to the May 2004 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The compact signed by Governor Schwarzenegger and the Lytton Band reads: "The Tribe will not conduct Class III Gaming in a manner that endangers the public health, safety or welfare." ANR is taking every measure possible to keep smokefree air a priority issue for state lawmakers as they consider the compact.
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