Tribes face federal labor movement

[nosmokes]

This one hurts. I'm not sure why the gaming Tribes don't lean on the management companiws that are running the casinos and force them to negotiate w/ the unions. Quite a few have and it hasn't affected their sovereignty at all that I'm aware of, anf it does benefit the tribal members that may choose to work at the casino, especially if/when they choose to pursue work off the rez, already having the union membership.
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original-indiancountry.

Tribes face federal labor movement
Posted: February 15, 2008

by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today
MASHANTUCKET, Conn. - When dealers at one of the world's largest casinos voted last November to form a union under federal labor laws, the news reverberated throughout Indian country.

Table game dealers at the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation's Foxwoods Resort Casino voted 1,289 to 852 on Nov. 24 in favor of forming a United Auto Workers union, bringing federally-regulated collective bargaining onto tribal lands in the first union election at a tribal casino overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.

Throughout the months of union organizing, the tribal nation asked the UAW and employees to submit their petition to unionize under the tribe's own labor laws, maintaining that the NLRB does not have jurisdiction on sovereign Indian land. The NLRB, which heard the tribe's appeals, rejected that argument, citing a federal appeals court ruling last February that a casino owned by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in California was subject to the National Labor Relations Act.

Since the Foxwoods vote, many tribes are looking for ways to strengthen their labor laws. Many have sought information from the Mashantucket Pequots, according to Jackson King, the nation's attorney.

''A lot of tribes are looking for examples of tribal labor laws and we've been happy to provide them. Many of our employment laws have been on the books for years. The NLRB reversal of its position on how this act applies to tribes has prompted a lot of tribes to look for information on tribal labor law and employment laws in general,'' King said.

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complete article here