Friday, Aug. 30, 2002 | 9:38 a.m.
It is not unusual for Las Vegans Tina Marie DeValle or Antonio Torres to labor on Labor Day, or work on any other holiday, for that matter.
They are members of Culinary Local 226 and work in the hotel service industry -- she as a Harrah's cocktail waitress, he as a Bellagio food server.
"It's OK depending on the holiday and if I don't have relatives in town," said DeValle, 31, a Las Vegas resident of eight years, who is single and does not live with relatives. "Rarely does anyone go home early on a holiday, because we get paid double time."
If the holiday falls on a day off, a Culinary worker gets paid a straight eight hours, as is standard for most businesses that give paid holidays.
"You have all of these people coming to Las Vegas to have a great time, so you need people to take care of their needs," said Torres, 41, a Las Vegas resident of five years, who also is single and does not have family living with him. "It's fun to work on holidays because it's busy and the time flies."
DeValle and Torres work standard 40-hour workweeks, and they only work on holidays when they fall on their normal work days. But statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau for Labor Day show that many Americans' work schedules are not so structured.
According to Census 2000 data, 31 percent of workers 16 and older work more than 40 hours a week and 23 percent work fewer than 35 hours a week. Another 8 percent work greater than 60 hours per week.
Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor, who falls into the 60-plus-hour work week category, says it is "most disturbing" that such a high percentage of American workers are not getting 40-hour workweeks.
"Employers often do that to avoid paying the benefits for full-time workers," Taylor said. "Some employees are given the status of contract workers, which means they no longer are even employees of the company."
Many local employees count their blessings this Labor Day, in the wake of the post-Sept. 11 economic crunch that caused industry-wide layoffs and the union nearly going on strike before reaching its best contract in history.
"I feel very fortunate when I think of how things are in California where I came from," Torres said, "Jobs (in the hotel industry) in Las Vegas are great -- great wages and great benefits, including good health insurance."
Taylor said the union's efforts to get such a favorable contract exemplified "what Labor Day and the labor movement in America is all about."
He noted that is especially true of the efforts to reduce by three rooms a day per person the workload on hotel housekeeping staffs on heavy checkout days, like Labor Day.
DeValle and Torres said they also feel appreciation from their employers on this day that was established in the mid-1800s to honor all wage earners.
DeValle said Harrah's opens banquet rooms on the Labor Day weekend to feed its staff. Torres said the Bellagio gives its workers free passes to movies and the Wet 'n' Wild theme park.
The U.S. Census Bureau also found in Census 2000 that:
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