tribes

Well, the compacts are passed and no literal blood was shed, but a lot of people are pretty upset. The reluctance of Arnold to re-negotiate the compacts, despite Democratic opposition lead to two options for the Assembly Democrats. They had to try and get what were little more than fig leafs on labor protections, or scrap the whole thing, risking the wrath of the tribes. They went for the former. Now what?

Well, perhaps a ballot campaign. LAT:

Jack Gribbon, California political director for Unite Here, a union that organizes casino and hotel workers, said he and other union leaders are considering asking voters to undo the agreements. To qualify a repeal measure for next February's presidential primary ballot would probably require gathering 400,000 signatures in 90 days, he said.

"The discussions are very serious," Gribbon said.

No doubt they are. We will wait and see what ends up happening. There have been indications that this has been coming for a while. I doubt that yesterday was the first time that this option was discussed.

As for that political calculation Nunez made, the Chronicle pulled no punches today.

The standoff between the two groups had placed Núñez in a politically precarious position of having to choose between his political base in labor or mollify tribes that have not been shy about using their deep pockets to buoy or sink political campaigns.

Núñez supports a proposed ballot initiative that would extend his own term in the Assembly beyond 2008. His chief political consultant is heading a signature-gathering effort to place the measure on the presidential primary ballot in February.

Needless to say labor leaders had a few choice words on the subject. Here is Art Pulaski talking about Nunez:

"We're certainly dismayed that he would abandon (what will be with the casino expansions) 100,000 low-wage workers. He came from modest beginnings himself and he should know better," he said.

Pulaski also said while labor unions have not taken an official position on the term-limits measure, it would be difficult to ask workers to campaign on behalf of the initiative.

Gibbons called it "an unbelievable betrayal of cold, political calculation for campaign dough".

People above my pay grade in the labor movement will be making decisions about resource allocations. This turn of events is likely to have an influence on the end results. If UNITE-HERE goes forward with an initiative, I will be tracking it here.

A deal has been struck between the legislature, tribes and Arnold Schwarzenegger to move forward with the doubling of Indian gambling. They have fixed the accounting issues, but failed to ensure that workers rights are protected. The deal does require tribes to help the state ensure that employees do pay alimony and pay for workers comp insurance. These changes are essentially side agreement, that only four out of five tribes have agreed to the accounting provisions. They are on the fast track in the legislature and it all could be passed today.

The compacts will not protect workers from being threatened or punished if they try and organize. Check cards will not be allowed for union organizing. Both of these were in the 2004 Compacts, but the governor failed to include them in this round and the Democrats declined to insist they be in their for passage. Needless to say, UNITE-HERE is upset. LAT:

"It's an unbelievable, outrageous betrayal," said Jack Gribbon, the California political director of Unite Here, a union that organizes casino and hotel workers. He said it was "disappointing" that Nuñez, "who came out of the labor movement, would go for the big money and ignore the working poor."

It sounds like the Democrats chose the path of least confrontation. Nunez tried to blame Arnold for failing to talk with them before negotiated, but that is a fairly weak excuse.

Nuñez issued a statement too — castigating Schwarzenegger for failing to take lawmakers' concerns into account when he negotiated the compacts.

"Before the governor moves forward on additional compacts," Nuñez said, "I urge him to respect the role of the Legislature."

[snip]

Schwarzenegger has refused to renegotiate the compacts on principle, as the law says that the deals are to be struck between the governor and tribes. Senate Democrats, who had borne labor's wrath in passing them last year, did not want to go through the same fight again this year.

So they managed to change a few things, but declined to make the worker's rights provisions a priority and then tried to dump it in Arnold's lap. But Arnold's attitude is that he gets to do the negotiating and then the legislature's role is to say yes or no. Fantastic.

There is some question that the side agreements will hold up in court, but the legislature is projecting confidence in their legality. The fate of the Morongo compact is somewhat in question, even though they are one of the main tribes participating in these compacts and agreeing to the new provisions. They have pissed off the speaker with their TV ads and district mailers, attempting to pressure legislators into passing the compacts. Plus, they were the tribe who dumped $450,000 into the special election this week in CA-37 to try (unsuccessfully) to elect Sen. Jenny Oropeza to Congress.

The voices of the casino workers were heard within the Capitol today. Hundreds of red-shirted workers gathered on the North steps for a rally and then marched inside in an orderly fashion to do some lobbying. The event culminated as over two hundred UNITE-HERE members chanted from the second story of the rotunda "¡Si, Se Puede!" just steps from the office of Speaker Fabian Nunez. The dome amplified the chants as staffers poked their heads out of their office doors and the CHP scrambled to ensure the direct action did not get out of control.

The events today were the last big push by the workers to ensure that workers rights were included in the Indian gaming compacts that the legislature is about to vote on. At issue are the basic workers rights protections that workers have under California law. In particular, the right to use check cards to indicate the desire of workers to form a union.

It is that exact right that is actually being heard in the U.S. Senate ironically today, as part of the Employee Free Choice Act. The Democratic leadership here in the state legislature has been indicating that they are siding with the tribes on the establishment of right to work colonies in the casinos. Dozens of labor leaders, including Working Californians' co-chairs Marvin Kropke and Brian D'Arcy signed on to a letter to Senator Perata and Speaker Nunez recently. Here is an excerpt from that letter:

In contrast to most previous compacts submitted by the Governor in 2004, this compact—and presumably others to come—removes from the Tribal Labor Relations Ordinance the right for tribal casino workers (who are virtually all not tribal members) to freely choose whether they want unionization through card check, and to establish a level playing eld for their pursuit of decent wages, benets and working conditions. Instead, the Governor has reverted to the 1999 procedures for unionization, even though Speaker Núñez and Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero conducted a detailed study of those procedures and found them severely decient and ineffective.

The U.S. House of Representatives, led by California’s own Nancy Pelosi and George Miller, with the support of every California House Democrat, recently voted to approve the card check procedure of organizing as a reform of the National Labor Relations Act. A super majority of California Assembly and Senate Democrats signed a letter of support for that legislation. Unfortunately, even if this effort should succeed, the enforceable jurisdiction of national labor law will not be settled law at tribal casinos for many years to come, if ever. In contrast, the card check procedure of organizing has become the standard in commercial gaming, and many tribal casinos, throughout our country and Canada. It would be ironic in the extreme for the California legislature, led by Democrats, to reject card check at the same time that California’s congressional delegation is leading the way on the same issue.

It is doubly ironic that the day of the rally is the day as debate begun on S. 1041 (EFCA). Indeed thousands of fellow brothers and sisters gathered on the National Mall today as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senators Dick Durbin, Edward M. Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Sherrod Brown, Bernie Sanders spoke to the crowd about the importance of passing the Employee Free Choice Act. (photo from democrats.senate.gov)

Meanwhile, I watched AFL-CIO Labor Fedration head Art Pulaski work hard today to explain to Nanette Mirada of ABC 7 why secrete ballot elections are not fair in practice. It is clear that there is a real lack of education on the issue. He used the example of the tribes scheduling several "educational" meetings on unionization, or deliberately making security guards fill out their ballots under video cameras and other intimidation tactics. He also patiently explained that workers do not have access to workers compensation and other benefits since they are working on the reservation.

Pulaski also went into the politics of the fight and vaguely threatened the Democratic leadership. Pulaski referred to the gathered workers as the "ground troops" for the election, noting that they would not be particularly motivated in upcoming elections if they lost this battle now. "Money talks inside the capitol...and the odds are stacked against these workers" he said, referring to the large amount of donations the legislators have received from the gaming tribes.

More from the letter:

It is incomprehensible how California, in a period when the state is relying more and more on service sector jobs for economic de-
velopment, could enact compacts which will create the largest expansion of gaming in American history with no clear path to the middle class for a work force eclipsing 60,000 workers, soon to be 100,000 workers, who are the engine behind this extraordinarily lucrative industry.

All the workers want is that the new compacts include the same rights as the 2004 Compacts did, nothing more. Already, 5,000 tribal gaming employees have chosen unionization. That choice has improved their lives and communities and simultaneously relived the Californian taxpayers of the burden of their health care costs and other social services for the working poor. If the Democratic Congress can support these basic rights, so should the Democratic State Legislature in California.

More pictures in my flickr set.