WASHINGTON — Indian tribes want Congress to exempt them and their casinos from federal labor laws.
At a House hearing Thursday, tribes spoke out for legislation to overturn an order by the National Labor Relations Board that said _ for the first time _ that sovereign Indian tribes are under the board's jurisdiction.
"A tribe is a government,"said Joe Garcia, president of the National Congress of American Indians."Tribal policies must come from within the tribe's government, rather than being imposed from the outside."
The labor board's order, which came in response to an organizing dispute at the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino in Southern California, is being fought in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit by the country's leading tribes.
Both sides say the case could be precedent-setting. Meanwhile, tribes have worked with a friendly lawmaker, Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., who's introduced a bill that would amend the National Labor Relations Act to say that tribes are not governed by it.
Hayworth, a top recipient of tribal campaign donations, said at the Education and Workforce subcommittee hearing that the labor board was making a"bureaucratic power grab"that would erode tribal sovereignty.
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The National Labor Relations Board was not invited to testify, and a spokeswoman declined to respond to Hayworth's comment, saying the board's order spoke for itself.
The order came after the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union filed a complaint against the San Manual Band of Mission Indians contending the tribe violated labor rules by allowing the Communications Workers of America access to its casino for organizing while denying access to HERE. The tribe filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the board had no jurisdiction.
In its May 2004 order, the board said that previous labor board decisions, which had generally exempted tribes from its jurisdiction, had been inadequate.
Noting that the explosion of Indian gambling had transformed once-poor tribes into major employers of non-Indians, the order said that tribes were now acting more like traditional businesses than like 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 order said, adding that it proposed to treat tribes"just as it treats any other private sector employer."
Some unions, including HERE, have alleged that workers at casinos are subject to unfair labor practices. But tribes say their workers are treated well and that tribes can handle labor issues themselves.
San Manuel tribal spokesman Jake Coin said workers at his casinos are represented by the Communications Workers of America and protected by a labor relations ordinance approved by the state of California.
"Tribes have been perfectly capable of looking out for workers rights,"Coin said in an interview.
Some Democrats are wary of Hayworth's legislation. The bill"does not include any provision for the protection of labor rights,"Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., said at the hearing.
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