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HIGH STAKES GAMBLE FOR TRIBAL CASINO WORKERS: SACRAMENTO’S LAST CHANCE TO PROTECT THEIR HEALTH AND SAFETY

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By Marianne P. Brown, MPH

Denise De Groff, a maintenance engineer at the Agua Caliente casino in Palm Springs was recently dealt a bad hand. Last year she was told to clean the drains in a women’s restroom, and because she was the only female engineer in this 130,000-square-foot casino Denise had to perform the job of two people without assistance. Not trained on how to operate the maintenance equipment alone, her gloves became entangled in the drain de-clogging tool she was using. She injured her hands trying to get free and later had to have surgery on both.. Denise still takes pain medication and has not regained full use of either hand.

In 2005, 4.2 million U.S. workers experienced a workplace injury or illness which required more than first aid. Many of the incidents which caused these could have been prevented by proper training and use of safety equipment. California’s regulatory agency, Cal-OSHA, has the strongest workplace protections compared with other state-plan states or Federal OSHA.

Yet, this month our elected representatives in Sacramento are poised to push away from the table when it comes to applying Cal-OSHA standards for the 14,000 thousand employees who work in 5 tribal casinos whose compacts with the state of California are currently being renegotiated for another 20-year term. These 5 Southern California casinos, it should be noted, are among the richest in the state, raking in an estimated $60 billion with these pending compacts.

Unlike the rest of California’s workforce, tribal casino employees are not automatically covered by state health and safety laws. Because the casinos are on tribal lands up until now they have been required to comply only with federal regulations – in this case, they must have workplace standards that are equivalent to Federal OSHA’s. In contrast, other tribes – such as Big Lagoon/Los Coyotes and Yurok -- with pending compacts but without casinos -- have agreed to be regulated by California’s more protective workplace standards.

Why is it imperative that California health and safety laws cover tribal casino workers? Along with 24 other “state-plan states,” California has had its own regulatory program, since 1972, which enforces standards that typically are more protective than Federal OSHA’s. In addition, Cal-OSHA has standards that Federal OSHA has considered but which have been pulled off the table by the George W. Bush Administration. These include a standard to protect workers against “Repetitive Motion Injuries” (the service sector experiences thousands of RMI’s each year) and another that requires employers to implement an “Injury and Illness Prevention Program” which must include employer training of workers on how to identify hazards and avoid job injuries. Furthermore, California’s penalties for serious violations of Cal-OSHA regulations are much stiffer, averaging $5,398 per penalty in FY 2006, compared with the national average of Federal OSHA and other state-plan states, of $881 per penalty.

In the debate over Indian gaming compacts, sometimes the purpose of such compacts gets lost. These compacts are enforceable agreements between a sovereign tribe and the state government, based upon mutually agreed upon, lawful principles with specifics, as needed. Similarly, collective bargaining agreements provide a mechanism to solve labor issues, including job-related health and safety issues. Unfortunately, for these 5 Southern California casinos there is no union.

Thus, when the TASIN (Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations) tribes lobby for Federal OSHA standards and oppose collective bargaining as an option to solve problems, as they have in their negotiations with Governor Schwarzenegger and the Senate, we know not to bet on them to do the right thing.

It’s now the Assembly which has the last opportunity -- before the budget is passed -- to send these compacts back to the Governor for re-negotiation. It is critical that the Assembly make it a “win” for these California casino workers -- like Denise De Groff -- who deserve the same health and safety “game rules” all other California workers have labored under for the past 30 years.

Marianne P. Brown was the Director of the UCLA Labor Occupational Health and Safety Program from 1984-2004, and has written extensively about workplace health and safety for the past 30 years.

Posted on June 12, 2007

Comments

Subtle transition from an OSHA discussion to a Union/Organizing rights discussion.

Better to keep the issues separate, lest you show a bias...

Posted by: Ken Coate at June 13, 2007 11:33 AM

Ken, It seems you missed the point of the article: That tribal casino employees can play a role in improving workplace safety if they have the right to organize.

Is it YOUR bias that keeps you from recognizing this?

Posted by: Cal at June 13, 2007 02:46 PM

I made the mistake of thinking this was a serious publication rather than one with an agenda. My intention was to use it as a source for another article, but because I work for an honorable publication, I am only permitted to use legitimate unbiased sources.

Posted by: M. Martinez at June 15, 2007 07:34 AM

M. Martinez:

Your comment, full of diatribe but no indication of where you disagree with the article, doesn't really help much and it is telling that this is absent.

There is a serious problem here with occupational safety and workers' compensation with these casinos and there are many other problems with them. These have been documented in many other publications and articles in the media. As a certified specialist in workers' compensation by the State Bar of California and an attorney in this field for 26 years, I can tell you there are problems here.

You also fail to note the publication you write for.

Posted by: Frank D. Russo at June 15, 2007 09:09 AM

Mr. Russo,
You stated that there are problems. Were? What casinos? Here were I work and I am a tribal memeber. We have a safety training program, we all are OSHA Cert for training. If at anytime an employee is injured, they get treated right away, then sent to our workers comp. If needed the employee has to leave work do to this injury, they are coverd by workers comp. What I do not understand is that people want to say this and say that about problems due to some of casions. But that dose not mean that we are all doing a poor job with our employees. I wish people would do there home work on what ones must be worked on and what one's are trying to keep there employees safe and happy.

Posted by: Calif at June 15, 2007 06:06 PM

You appear to be forgetting that Indian Tribes are sovereign Nations and do not fall under the Cal OSHA umbrella. Your transparent bias against the current administration and your lack of research is evident. Hear, Hear to the Tribes that involve safety in their operations!

Posted by: Safetysusan at July 3, 2007 10:30 AM

My experience with safety and union's participation comes from a construction industry perspective. Safety is critical to any employee, irrespective of affiliation, and my experience has been the unions don't spend nearly as much energy on safety as they claim, and I'm sure that would apply here as well.

The underlying point was to create a pro-union bias in the tribal compacts going through the legislature, and safety is always a good place to hang your hat.

Posted by: Ken Coate at July 17, 2007 12:43 PM

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