By Michelle Dearmond
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 25, 1998
LOS ANGELES -- Just weeks after reluctantly signing a gaming compact with Gov. Pete Wilson, the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians on Tuesday announced an unprecedented agreement to let a labor union organize at one of California's largest Indian casinos.
The agreement with the Communications Workers of America marks the first time a labor union has received permission to talk to workers at one of the many American Indian casinos in California and comes amid a heated statewide debate over tribal gaming. Although the majority of tribal casino workers are non-Indians, Indian sovereignty exempts tribes from labor laws that require other businesses to allow union organization.
"The Voluntary Election Agreement reached between the Viejas Band and CWA is similar to the National Labor Relations Act and is a prototype of how tribal governments and unions can work together in mutual trust and respect," said Anthony R. Pico, Viejas Band tribal chairman.
The agreement, finalized Monday, gives the CWA District 9, which is part of the AFL-CIO, the opportunity to organize and bargain collectively for the casino's food and beverage, housekeeping and maintenance workers on wages, hours and other conditions of employment, said Micheal J. Hartigan, executive vice president of the CWA, District 9.
If 30 percent of casino service employees sign union authorization cards, the CWA will hold an election so all of the workers can decide if they want the union to be their "exclusive bargaining agent," Hartigan said.
"It's our feeling that the Wilson compact was very restrictive to the Indian nations," he said. "We felt we should support them so they can prosper."
Eleven tribes have recently signed compacts with Wilson, as required under the 1988 Indian Gaming and Regulatory Act, and are waiting to have the compacts ratified. A coalition of tribes, including the Viejas, has written a proposition that would legalize outlawed forms of gaming and would presumably nullify the existing compacts viewed as too restrictive.
A cadre of unions has come out against the November proposition because it contains no specific provision for union organization.
The Viejas opposed a clause in the Wilson compact, which was modeled after one signed by the Pala Indians, that required the tribes to stay neutral if casino employees wanted to organize a labor union. Tribal officials said to do so would require them to forfeit their right to free speech.
Additionally, the tribes disapproved of the compact because "the way that Wilson wrote it implied that the tribes would be hostile employers," said Nikki Symington, publicist for the Viejas.
Rather than do away with the clause, state officials agreed to allow the casino operators until Jan. 30 to reach an agreement with unions before putting the provision into effect.
The agreement between the Viejas and the CWA, which took about a month of negotiations, will stand regardless of whether the Viejas compact is ratified or the proposition approved by voters, Symington said.
The agreement would affect about 250 employees, or 20 percent of the work force, at the 150,000-square-foot casino, she said. Workers at the tribe's factory outlet center, among others, would not have the option of joining the union, she said.
The California Nations Indian Gaming Association announced Tuesday that several other Indian tribes were considering discussions with the CWA to explore similar agreements. The CWA, which traditionally has supported telecommunications workers, has expanded to cover a variety of workers, Hartigan said.
Jack Gribbon, the political director for the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union, said his union remained opposed to Proposition 5 regardless of the CWA agreement.
"Our union believes it should be the workers, not the bosses at the Indian casinos who represent the workers," he said. "The CWA agreement would be illegal off reservation. The employer is not allowed to choose the union for its employees."
Gribbon also criticized the CWA for representing workers traditionally handled by his union;.
"I don't think the agreement by the Communications Workers of America will have any impact at all. Zero."