U.S.

Waitresses Stomp On High Heels

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

May 15, 2000 / 1:29 PM EDT / CBS

Get ready for the next frontier in women's rights.

The subject is high heels: those sometimes painful but oh-so-fashionable staples of ladies footwear.

Waitresses are demonstrating in Reno Monday and in Las Vegas later this month in an effort to put an end to the rule at most Nevada casinos which forces cocktail watresses to wear two-inch heels.

Opponents of the high heel requirement for waitresses say the two-inchers can cause serious foot and back injuries and casinos should allow cocktail servers to wear, at the most, one inch heels.

It's all part of the Kiss My Foot Campaign, which says if casino executives don't drop the high heel rule on their own, it will then call on state lawmakers to pass a law banning heel requirements.

The waitresses have the support of 18 organizations, including the Nevada Federation of Business Women, the Reno-Sparks branch of the NAACP and the Nevada State AFL-CIO.

Kricket Martinez of the Nevada Empowered Women's Project and Alliance for Worker's Rights says it's a matter of discrimination against women.

"It's also a discrimination in the workplace issue. You don't see men running around in high heels at the casinos," says Martinez, who ought to know, as she is a Reno cocktail waitress.

"At this time, we're hoping casinos will voluntarily drop (the rule) but if they don't, then we'll go to step two," says Martinez, referring to the plan to get the legislature involved.

Martinez says some resorts, such as Fitzgerald's Casino and Hotel in Reno, have done away with the high heel rule. But she says most Nevada casinos continue to require heels on the theory that they make women look sexier.

"Women may look better in them to men, but the heels don't really improve efficiency. If your feet hurt, you can't be smiling and friendly to customers," says Martinez. "The point we're trying to get across is women deserve a choice rather than being told they have to wear a two-inch heel."

Representatives of the Nevada Resort Association have said they think the anti-heel campaign is much ado about nothing.

Resort Association lobbyist Bob Ostrovsky notes that most of the affected waitresses are members of the Culinary Union. "I've been involved in negotiations since 1973," says Ostrovsky. "Quite frankly, I don't ever recall the union bringing forward a proposal to limit this shoe style."