Overturn California Indian Gaming Compacts With a No vote on Props 94 to 97

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Martin Bennett
Deptartment of Social Science
Santa Rosa Junior College

On February 5th California voters can overturn four Indian gaming compacts approved by the legislature--compacts which will permit Native American tribes in Southern California to commence one of the largest expansions of gambling in American history. Californians concerned with the unprecedented polarization of wealth and the consequences of urban sprawl in the state should assess the impacts of these compacts--Propositions 94,95,96,97--on small non-gaming tribes, casino workers and their families, and the environment.

Unlike compacts approved by the Legislature in 2004, these compacts will deny up to 50,000 present and future casino workers protections essential to improve their standard of living and to gain access to California's middle class. If this legislation stands, the basic right of California casino workers to organize unions will be significantly eroded.

In California and across America, workers who attempt to organize a union at a casino are routinely harassed, threatened, illegally disciplined, and fired. Without specific provisions to protect workers at these gigantic casinos, working conditions suffer, and wages and benefits are lower than comparable union casinos such as those operated by the United Auburn and Rumsey tribes.

These compacts come at a critical moment. In California, tribal gaming is our fastest growing industry, posting revenues of more than $7 billion annually. The new compacts are worth an estimated $50 billion over two decades and would enable the tribes to triple the size of their casinos

According to a recent report by Occidental College professor Peter Dreier, the four wealthy Southern California tribes represent just .6%--less than one percent--of California's native population, but their casino revenue in 2005 was 43 percent of all gaming revenues in the state.