UNITE HERE, largest union of tribal casino workers, won’t stand for union-crushing bill; signals vote as line in sand for Democratic lawmakers

Washington, DC – On Wednesday, Congress is expected to take up a vote on H.R. 986, a union-crushing bill which would strip all employees of tribal owned enterprises of their current federally mandated labor protections under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The bill would strip all NLRA rights from workers employed by any tribal owned enterprises, including tribal owned casinos – a major sector with worker unions represented by UNITE HERE across the country.

“H.R. 986 is a staggering attack on the most basic labor protections that all American workers are entitled to under federal law, and any member of Congress who votes for it is taking a vote to turn workers at tribal casinos into second class citizens,” said D. Taylor, International President of UNITE HERE. “Any lawmaker who votes for HR 986 is voting to turn all tribal casinos into ‘right-to-work’ bastions. H.R. 986 would strip workers at tribal casinos of their collective bargaining rights and the most basic anti-discrimination NLRA protections most other American workers in the private sector are covered by.”

Congressional Democrats announced their ‘Better Deal’ plan with great fanfare. In the plan, Democrats stated that they stand for strengthening and expanding workers rights under the National Labor Relations Act. This bill seeks to take those rights away from hundreds of thousands of American workers. UNITE HERE and the entire labor movement are on high alert to make sure Democrats match their campaign rhetoric with their voting cards.

Some of the worker protections covered under the NLRA that H.R. 986 would strip include the rights of workers to negotiate their wages and working conditions, protection from discrimination or retaliation by management for organizing a worker union, and discrimination by the employer against workers who attempt to file unfair labor practices.

UNITE HERE represents 100,000 casino gaming workers, thousands of whom are employed at tribal casinos and would be impacted by H.R. 986.

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UNITE HERE represents 270,000 members working in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries in the U.S. and Canada.