Projo Biz Blog

Foxwoods Resort Casino this week appealed a judge's ruling recommending approval of a unionization vote by the gambling venue's dealers.

Dealers at the Connecticut casino voted 1,289 to 852 last November in favor of union representation by the United Auto Workers. Earlier this month, an administrative law judge rejected several objections to that vote filed by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns Foxwoods.

Among other things, the tribe claimed that union "agents" harassed and intimidated anti-union dealers, improperly spoke to dealers on the day before the vote and provided voting notices and ballots only in English or traditional Chinese.

In a 33-page legal brief filed Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board's Washington headquarters, the tribe's attorneys argue that "keeping a list of employees who have voted . . . has been found to interfere with an election and is grounds for setting aside the election when it can be shown or inferred from the circumstances that the employees knew that their names were being recorded."

In its latest appeal the tribe also raises the issue of whether the NLRB has jurisdiction over a sovereign tribal nation.

"It is no small understatement to note that the board's decision to, in certain cases, assert jurisdiction over some Native American enterprises, has not been well-received by Native American Tribes."

This week's appeal is another milestone in what it appears will be a long tussle over the union issue. A ruling by the NLRB in Washington upholding the decision of Administrative Law Judge Raymond Green would force Foxwoods into collective bargaining with the UAW and the dealers.

If Foxwoods fails to bargain, that move could trigger another round of hearings with the NLRB, before possibly ending up in federal court.

In a related development, the tribe on Monday expects to appeal a unionization vote taken by a second group of Foxwoods employees, according to Bruce MacDonald, a Foxwoods' spokesman.

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