National Indian Gaming Association: EFCA Would Erode Tribal Sovereignty
The National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) has joined the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in opposing the Employee Free Choice Act in its current form. At its annual meeting last week, NIGA unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the bill for failing to properly recognize the sovereignty of native tribes. As reported in Indian Country Today:
The EFCA battle is a top priority in Indian country. If passed, the EFCA would forward a creeping erosion of tribal sovereignty in the area of labor relations on tribal land. For 75 years after the National Labor Relations Act was created in 1935, tribes were treated as governments in terms of their employees on reservations. That changed in 2007 when a federal circuit court upheld a National Labor Relations Board ruling that a casino owned by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians was subject to federal labor laws.
“Tribes are recognized in the Constitution as governments; tribes should be recognized in the statutes as governments,” NIGA Executive Director Mark Van Norman said. “We’re going to devote a lot of time and energy to securing the treatment of tribes as governments under EFCA and the NLRA.”
The resolution comes as Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) spoke at the annual meeting, joining a bi-partisan host of politicians seeking to speak to Native American constituents. McKeon has championed the Secret Ballot Protection Act in previous sessions of Congress and is a fierce opponent of EFCA.
