Indian Gaming > People's Weekly: Labor defeats California compacts

September 15, 2006

People's Weekly: Labor defeats California compacts

"Gambling interests could not muster enough State Assembly votes to ram through confirmation of a new Native American gambling casino agreement at the end of the 2006 California legislative session. The legislation would have set back casino workers’ rights while radically increasing the number of slot machines in the state.

Unite Here, the union that represents casino workers, along with the California Federation of Labor and some Native American tribes, influenced enough Assembly members to vote “No” or “Abstain” on the proposed agreement to stop it from getting a majority.

Gaming compacts are negotiated between the state government and individual Indian tribes, which are sovereign nations that are not subject to federal or California labor laws. The proposed new casino would have been the third for one of the state’s wealthiest gaming tribes, the Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians. The workers in California’s $9 billion gaming industry are predominantly women and people of color.

Recently ratified American Indian-owned casino agreements provide for union representation when half or more of the employees sign union cards. However, under provisions of the defeated agreement, in order to have union representation, casino employees would have had to go through a drawn out election process rather than having access to the fairer card-check."

Get the Story:
Labor victory in California casino vote (People's Weekly World 9/14)