[Marxism] Indian tribes fight for exemption from federal labor law

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I grew up the child of a doctor at Patton State Hospital which is  
next to the San Manuel Indian Reservation and hiked in the  
reservation hills as a lad. On at least one occasion when I tried to  
go on the reservation to see a boy that I knew slightly, I was  
excluded, among other reasons, probably because of the poverty that  
outsiders would have seen.

Brian Shannon

==========

Indian tribes fight for exemption from federal labor law
ERICA WERNER
Associated Press

SAN MANUEL INDIAN RESERVATION, Calif. - Once steeped in poverty, the  
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians has become one of the nation's  
wealthiest tribes thanks to casino gambling.

Now the Southern California tribe is using its riches to fund a  
potentially precedent-setting legal fight contending that tribes are  
exempt from federal labor laws because they are sovereign governments.

A ruling against San Manuel could open the door for unions to  
organize an estimated 250,000 workers - dealers, servers, cooks - at  
the nation's 400-plus tribal casinos. Except for a handful in  
California, tribal casinos are generally not unionized; unions say  
it's difficult to make inroads without the protection of federal  
organizing rules.

"It's tremendously significant because tribal gaming is a target for  
labor, one of the significant targets for labor, and this would  
significantly open up the ability of labor to organize," said Joseph  
A. Turzi, an attorney who has represented tribes in labor disputes  
but isn't involved in this case.

Backed by many of the country's leading tribal organizations, San  
Manuel is fighting a 2004 opinion by the National Labor Relations  
Board that asserted the board's jurisdiction over tribal businesses.

Under the decision, tribes would be covered for the first time by the  
National Labor Relations Act that bars unfair labor practices and  
gives workers the rights to organize and bargain with employers.

"They've taken the tribe and simply defined us as an employer instead  
of a government, which we are," said San Manuel Vice Chairman Vincent  
Duro. "That is, to me, really outrageous. The erosion in and of  
tribal sovereignty is a serious threat."

The case is before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of  
Columbia Circuit, where oral arguments are expected in coming months.  
Both sides believe the matter could end up before the U.S. Supreme  
Court.

"It's that kind of a case," said David Fleischer, senior attorney  
with the labor board, which has been joined in the case by the state  
of Connecticut and the Unite Here hotel and restaurant union, based  
in New York.

Once little more than brush-covered hills and palm trees 60 miles  
east of Los Angeles, the 800-acre San Manuel reservation now has  
attractive new office buildings and freshly landscaped homes.

A booming $300 million casino, featuring 2,000 slot machines, opened  
last year and employs more than 2,500 people. The 180-member tribe  
could add 5,500 more slots under a deal just approved by Gov. Arnold  
Schwarzenegger that's awaiting approval by California lawmakers.

San Manuel officials said the tribe's success shows Indian gambling  
is improving economic conditions for Indians - just as Congress  
intended.

The National Labor Relations Board argues that casino-owning tribes  
have started behaving more like traditional businesses than sovereign  
governments, and should be treated as such.

"Running a commercial business is not an expression of sovereignty in  
the same way that running a tribal court system is," the labor board  
said in its opinion, approved by a 3-1 vote.

The litigation stems from a 1998 complaint filed with the labor board  
by Unite Here, then known as Here, that accused San Manuel of denying  
the union an opportunity to organize while allowing access by another  
union, the Communications Workers of America, which now has a  
contract to represent most workers at the casino.

. . .

FULL AT

<http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/ 
15433512.htm>

OR http://makeashorterlink.com/?S1EB520BD


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