Last week 100 plus Indian tribes in the form of Coalition for Tribal Sovereignty urged the U.S. Senate to pass a bill that would exempt tribal casinos from the National Labor Relations Board.
The bill, S.248, would spell out that the board has no jurisdiction over enterprises owned by tribes. A similar bill was passed by the House in November.
The Coalition wrote to the Senate that the NLRB, “has been aggressively asserting jurisdiction over tribal labor practices,” . . . “when it determines tribal government employers are acting in a ‘commercial’ rather than a ‘governmental’ capacity — an analysis it does not apply to state or local government employers.”
President Barack Obama has already signaled that he will veto the bill if it reaches his desk.
It is also opposed by various unions, such as UNITE HERE, which represents many casino workers.
