Tribes negotiate the compacts with a state’s governor, legislatures ratify them and the Department of Interior must approve them. Valid compacts are required for any tribe to run Class III gaming operations in the state and are legally binding agreements between tribes and state governments. The effort is a major test locally of the Tribal Labor Relations Ordinance, the collection of laws similar to the state’s labor laws but adopted by the tribes during their efforts to get casino gaming approved in so-called “compacts.”

On one side is a historically marginalized group and, on the other, are workers, many of whom are people of color working at or near minimum wage while keeping the floors clean and the drinks flowing. The dispute is the latest chapter in a long history of fraught relations between organized labor and tribal casinos in California. The casino has also hired a well-known consulting firm to persuade workers to keep the union at bay. Since then, the pandemic and a legal battle have slowed down the organizing effort, but it continues and it eventually could have major implications for other tribal casinos and workers. That year, the resort completed a $260 million renovation, and in a development that’s largely flown under the radar, its employees began attempting to form a union. Though 2020 and the pandemic brought massive disruptions to casinos and businesses of all kinds, for the Sycuan Resort & Casino, 2019 was full of major shifts, too.

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Sycuan Unionization Push Could Have Big Implications for Other Tribal Casinos Close

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