Why Tribes Need Their Own Labor Laws
A lack of employment and labor relations laws on Indian reservations has made tribes too vulnerable to exploitation by unions and leaves too many gaps for federal agencies to fill, according to a column written by Kaighn Smith Jr., a partner at the law firm Drummond, Woodsum, and MacMahon, and published in Indian Country Today on Jan. 26.
Smith explores the issue using a hypothetical scenario that involves female tribal workers being victims of sexual harassment. He looks at how, because the tribe has not enacted laws pertaining to sexual harassment and, thus, the victims can not get justice through the tribal court, the door opens wide for union organization.
With the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino v. NLRB, tribal gaming operations are already open to National Labor Relations Board jurisdiction, as Smith noted. Smith said tribes have two options: do nothing or enact their own laws.
“The threat of federal authority over labor relations in Indian country is a threat of assimilation,” Smith wrote. “In the case of the NLRB, outside federal agents would impose labor unions upon tribes, upholding the power of such unions to bargain for externally defined ‘rights’ of employees and to strike against tribes’ economic enterprises – even to thwart tribal employment preferences.
Click here to read Smith’s column.
This post is brought to you courtesy of the author and TribalBiz.com.
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