While casino dealers at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut voted to be represented by the United Auto Workers, housekeepers at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Michigan, which is owned by the Saginaw Chippewa tribe, voted overwhelmingly against being organized by the Teamsters Union.
While organized labor has looked upon Indian casinos as fertile ground for growing the rolls of unions, the employees at Soaring Eagle believe that they can work cooperatively with their employers to find mutually beneficial solutions to their labor relations issues.
After a year of trying to organize workers at Soaring Eagle, the Teamsters did not get the message that going on the warpath against management was not an effective tactic. Organizers had pulled the wrong arrows from their quivers.
While the union failed to convert Soaring Eagle employees into union members, organized labor still has its big guns aimed at the entire tribal gaming industry, which has nearly 700,000 employees and revenues of nearly $26-billion. Native Americans may be outnumbered, but their independence may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle for union organizers.
