Viejas Indians Sign Historic Contract

SEVEN HUNDRED CASINO service and maintenance workers employed by the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians have
overwhelmingly ratified a first contract substantially boosting wages and working conditions.

The agreement, according to CWA Local 9400 Executive Vice President Micheal Hartigan, who led a bargaining team of elected employees, is the first collective bargaining
agreement signed by any Indian employer in the state. The Viejas, with 2,000 employees, are the largest tribal employer in California.

"The two-year pact," said Hartigan, establishes new standards for working conditions that had not previously existed on California tribal lands."

The 10,000-member local, headquartered in the Los Angeles area, helped the Viejas Casino and Turf Club workers organize earlier this year. The casino is located on the Viejas Reservation in Alpine, Calif., near San Diego.
Seventy percent of the workers voted in January to become CWA members.

"I'm extremely proud of the contract and proud of the members who worked to obtain it," said District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler, who supported the local's efforts. "We're looking forward to building a good relationship
with the employer."

The contract provides an immediate 15 percent increase in overall wages and benefits, and contains a second-year wage re-opener. In addition, the bargaining unit will participate in a customer service incentive plan, enabling members to earn an additional 8 percent, for a
potential total increase of 23 percent. They will also receive time-and-a-half pay for overtime and double-time for holidays.

The pact establishes a seniority system for selection of shifts, assignments, overtime and vacation; binding grievance and arbitration procedures; paid leave for sickness, vacations, bereavement or jury duty; "just cause" discharge; a union security clause and other
improvements.

Fifty-six Indian tribes signed agreements with California Gov. Gray Davis (D) in September validating their right to operate gambling establishments on Indian lands. Those pacts require that the tribes also allow casino employees to unionize. While some tribes are now rejecting the agreements as state intrusion into tribal sovereignty, the Viejas chose to work with CWA because of the union's
sensitivity to that issue. Hartigan said bargaining with the Viejas, which began in March, went more smoothly than with many employers.

"While all bargaining is difficult," he told San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Chet Barfield, "we were able to bring the benefit of union representation to the membership and still recognize the sovereignty of the tribe."