Oregon Governor
Ted Kulongoski has signed a renegotiated tribal-state compact with the Confederated
Tribes of the Warm Springs to build a casino, hotel and convention center
on off-reservation land in Cascade Locks, located 45 miles east of Portland
on Interstate 84.
Prior to the deal, the Columbia-Pacific Building Trades Council inked a
project labor agreement with general contractor Anderson Construction on
the $135 million complex that will mean 1.7 million workhours for roughly
400 craftsmen and women.
“This is big for our unions,” said Wally Mehrens, executive
secretary of the building trades council. “Multiply those 1.7 million
hours by $40 an hour and you get a lot of wages and health care and new
cars and used cars and a lot of money spent in the community.”
In addition, tribal leaders agreed to pay all the costs associated with
constructing a new interchange on I-84 leading to the complex. That cost
is estimated at $20 million. The tribe will work with the Oregon Department
of Transportation on highway improvements. It is unclear whether the interchange
falls under the project labor agreement, Mehrens said.
The compact between the state and the tribe contains workers’ rights
provisions that will allow for the more than 1,000 employees to join a union
by voluntary “card-check recognition,” which means that if a
simple majority of 50 percent plus one signs a card for union representation,
contract negotiations would begin immediately without having to go through
a full organizing campaign and election.
The tribe also agreed to binding arbitration in the event a collective bargaining
agreement cannot be reached.
However, the compact requires a waiting period of eight months after the
casino opens before workers can organize. Additionally, the tribe did not
agree to remain neutral in the event workers do seek union representation.
“The ground rules for union recognition in the compact look good at
first,” said Oregon AFL-CIO President Tim Nesbitt. “They
include majority sign-up for recognition of a union and binding arbitration
of all contract disputes. But that eight-month bar creates a union avoidance
period for the employer. We are disappointed, to say the least.”
Jeff Richardson, financial secretary-treasurer of Portland-based UNITE-HERE
Local 9, told the Northwest Labor Press that he was “very disappointed”
that the governor agreed to those terms. But he said the union wants to
work with the tribe to make the casino a success. “I think a labor
partnership with the tribe is a good thing for both parties. We can be helpful
as this process moves to the federal government for approval,” he
said.
Richardson initially presented Kulongoski with a proposal the international
union has used successfully with tribes nationwide. Richardson pointed out
that governors in California — including Republicans Pete Wilson and
Arnold Schwarzenegger — all negotiated better terms for union recognition
in compacts with California tribes that are thriving.
Rich McCracken, international counsel for UNITE/HERE, said of the eight-month
bar in the compact with the Warm Springs Tribe, “It’s a poison-the-well-period,
especially when there’s no neutrality required.”
The compact’s Tribal Labor Relations Ordinance specifies that if any
union, union representative or labor organization seeks to invoke the jurisdiction
of the National Labor Relations Board, the Warms Springs Tribe can bar that
organization from “utilizing the process and procedures” of
the ordinance, i.e., card-check recognition and binding arbitration.
The ordinance also contains open-shop language for tribal members who choose
not to pay union dues or fair share fees, as well as a clause prohibiting
“strikes (including boycotts ... corporate campaigns) and lockouts.”
The compact guarantees that adequate employment and public accommodation
standards will be put in place, including minimum wage, anti-discrimination,
family medical leave, Americans With Disabilities Act, Occupational Safety
and Health Administration, workers’ compensation and unemployment
insurance protections.
The land-swap and compact were negotiated after citizens of Hood River complained
loudly about a Warm Springs Tribe proposal to build a casino on environmentally-sensitive
land just outside the city that qualifies for Indian gaming under federal
law.
As a solution, the tribe proposed to instead build a gaming facility on
industrial land in Cascade Locks. In exchange, the tribe agreed to give
the state the 175 acres of land in Hood River, close its casino at Kah-Nee-Ta
Lodge in Central Oregon, and share 17 percent of its gambling proceeds with
the state (estimated to reach $200 million a year). Monies would be dedicated
to environmental protection, economic development, higher education opportunities
and charitable groups.
The 4,400-member Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation now
must get federal approval for the site from Secretary of Interior Gale Norton.
