Casino Workers Protest Setback to Smoking Ban in New Jersey

State Senator Drafts New Bill Incorporating Casino Industry Proposals Amid Workers' Outrage

Members of the United Auto Workers union disrupted a New Jersey State Assembly committee meeting by lighting cigarettes in protest of the setback to a proposed smoking ban in Atlantic City's casinos.
The original bill, which would have banned smoking in the casinos, lost support when one of its main champions embraced measures the casino industry wants, including enclosed smoking rooms.
State Sen. Vince Polistina is drafting a new bill that would gradually reduce smoking at slot machines over 18 months and give casinos 18 months to build enclosed smoking rooms staffed by volunteers.
The proposal for enclosed smoking rooms was denounced by Shawn Fain, international president of the United Auto Workers, who called the idea 'preposterous'.
New Jersey's public smoking law currently exempts casinos, a fact that workers have long sought to change.