The Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents tens of thousands of workers across Nevada, has vowed to protect employees of the Tropicana. “The union can help them find work during the remodel or the rebuild, and these workers have to be hired back first,” Ted Pappageorge, the secretary-treasurer of the union, said in an interview, noting that the workers’ contract stipulates they get a severance package. Not all of the casino’s workers, however, are in the union. “They’re at the whim of the employer,” Mr. Pappageorge said.
Tawana Moore, who has been a guest room attendant at the Tropicana for 17 years, and is a union member, said on Thursday that workers had not heard anything from the company since the bill was signed into law. “We have made this our home,” Ms. Moore said in an earlier interview. “We’re sad, but happy at the same time — sad because we’ve been here forever, and some people don’t know how to start over, and some people are happy, because change is good. I welcome change.”