Dear Editor

Dear Editor,

She:kon. Word has been received of organized labor having a strong interest in forming a union within the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino. As a tribal gaming enterprise of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, the facility operates under a signed compact with New York State, after a referendum in 1995 within the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory approved the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe entering into gaming for the benefit and livelihood of Akwesasronon.

Efforts have been made to educate casino workers into the changes in operation that a labor union would bring. In looking to see what other indigenous casinos have done after unions were proposed in their casinos, recent labor discussions with the Mashantucket Pequot Nation (owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino) have taken place after the federal National Labor Relations Board ordered the tribe to participate, ignoring sovereign choice. The union that would represent card dealers at Foxwoods would be the United Auto Workers of America. Already, a layoff of employees has been proposed at Foxwoods, with some reports linking the job cuts to possible increased costs of adjusting to an organized labor environment.

Any attempt to allow organized labor into the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino is a strike at the sovereign, original land status of Akwesasne and its people. It would require the successful passage of yet another referendum, complete with required public education sessions and possibly door-to-door orientation of the issues, before the notion could even be entertained. Any attempt by the federal government to order Akwesasne to the negotiating table with an organizing union entity would be the latest effort to annul the sovereign state of Akwesasne territory.

It is difficult to balance the intertwined nature of unions and the Mohawk people. Mohawk Ironworkers helped to build Turtle Island to its present lofty heights, after they were forced to take on dangerous work in remote locations to support their families, when previous employment opportunities dwindled. Yet, with significant construction projects now taking place just outside present Akwesasne borders, how many Akwesasronon union members have been able to secure work, which would allow them to work and still be home with their families each night? Organized labor affiliation has had its place within Mohawk culture, but it should be noted, at great personal expense and sacrifice by Mohawk workers who struggled to establish safe working and equitable conditions within a dangerous environment. Those times and needs have changed. The definition of sovereignty has not.

No one gave our people anything they did not earn. No one should be able to take it away either.

No unions at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino without community approval.

-Chaz Kader