Columnist Jeff German: It’s hard to feel patriotic with no job

Friday, Sept. 28, 2001 | 4:25 a.m.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com.

THE GOOD NEWS is that tourism is back on the rise in Las Vegas in the wake of this month's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Hotel occupancy is expected to top last weekend's 75 percent rate, which is not great, but far above the previous week's 60 percent.

And Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has been making appearances on the television networks to drum up more business.

Even the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority this week is planning to resume its multimillion-dollar advertising campaign that was shelved on Sept. 11 when the terrorists struck.

But what is disturbing is the way the casino industry, this city's lifeblood, has overreacted to the abrupt slowdown in business.

At the first sign of the downturn two weeks ago, casinos along the Strip began laying off employees. As many as 12,000 people have since lost their jobs.

To many it has not been one of the industry's finest hours.

At a time when all Americans are being urged to unite and be compassionate to their neighbors, the casino industry has demonstrated how cold and insensitive it has become.

Money is the bottom line here (keeping profits flowing in), not a sense of community pride and loyalty.

Even those responsible for promoting tourism in Las Vegas privately can't believe how cruel the industry looks at this tragic moment in American history.

Last week the Mandalay Resort Group announced that it was cutting the pay of its top 100 executives by $5 million. It was largely a symbolic gesture designed to make the company's big-shots look better while they were eliminating 4,500 jobs at its 10 casinos throughout the state.

Then there was MGM-MIRAGE, which donated $1 million to the relief effort in New York and Washington while letting go thousands of its workers and making life miserable for them when they most needed a sense of security.

This is a time when Americans are being asked to be patriotic.

But how are you supposed to feel patriotic and proud of your country when you're out of a job? How are you supposed to protect your family?

Those in high places inside gaming say what has happened here is no different than what has taken place in the airline and travel industries across the country.

They point to the thousands of layoffs at the airlines since Sept. 11.

One company, American Airlines, announced a day after Congress passed a $15 billion airline bailout package that it planned to invoke an emergency clause in its union contract to allow the company to withhold normal severance pay and benefits.

Knowing that, however, is providing little solace to the thousands of Las Vegans now hitting the unemployment lines.

By the end of last week the casino industry, maybe feeling guilty, took steps to help absorb the pain and suffering.

It looked to the Culinary Union to rewrite its contracts with the casinos so that employees could work reduced hours to avoid further layoffs.

Finally, a sign of decency surfaced in this mad rush to keep company profits from dipping.

As tourism continues to rise in Las Vegas, it would be nice if that touch of humanity caught on in the boardrooms of the Strip.