Photography by Joe Buglewicz
Tim Baer has no idea when he’ll return to work ― or whether he can keep his family safe and healthy when he does.
Baer tends bar at Hell’s Kitchen, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s previously busy outpost inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Like much of the gambling mecca’s service workforce, Baer was laid off from his job in mid-March when casinos, restaurants and nightclubs went dark due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Even though the Strip will begin a gradual reopening starting on Thursday, workers like Baer face nothing but uncertainty. While some casinos and restaurants will have customers for the first time in more than two months, hotels will be limiting the number of guests, crowds around craps tables won’t be allowed, and normally teeming nightclubs will remain shuttered as a public health precaution.
Baer, a bartender for 30 years, doesn’t know yet when he’ll be called back. Thinking ahead to that moment, he wonders how he will perform such a fast-paced job in a hot facemask all shift long. He worries about contracting the virus and transmitting it to his wife or son, both of whom have concerning medical histories. But first and foremost, he worries about not getting that call.
“I lost a job I worked years for,” said Baer. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I’m going to be struggling again. What kind of work am I going to do until something opens up?”
Offering an overview, he added, “It’s not looking too bright for a lot of people here in Las Vegas.”
Vegas might be the starkest example of what the hospitality industry faces across the country: a delicate balancing act between bringing back jobs and revenue and keeping workers and customers safe from a virus that’s killed more than 100,000 Americans.
The city is well known for its reliable hospitality jobs that pay decent wages and provide a pathway to the middle class for many, including immigrant families. The powerful Culinary Union Local 226 and its sister union, Bartenders Local 165, represent workers on the Strip and downtown; together, the unions have 63,000 members.
But how long it will be before a significant number of those jobs return remains a big question mark. In April, the unemployment rate in town soared to 33%, twice as bas as during the Great Recession. A spokesperson for the culinary union said 98% of its members were laid off due to the virus.
It could be a long time before Vegas returns to something resembling normal. Its hospitality industry relies heavily on air travel. And most of the revenue at major resorts does not come from gambling itself ― it comes from hotel stays, meals and entertainment. Until the public is again comfortable booking flights to Sin City, those businesses will continue to take a hit.
“That’s not to say you’re not going to see a strong crowd driving from Southern California,” said Barry Jonas, a gaming industry analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, the corporate and investment banking arm of SunTrust Banks. “But the business centered on getting in an airplane, going out to a group meeting, hosting a conventio