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Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act Falls Short in U.S. Senate


Previously, I had noted a bill that was moving through the U.S. Congress that would have exempted businesses owned and operated by Native American tribes from the National Labor Relations Act (‘NLRA’).  For years, the National Labor Relations Board routinely applied the NLRA only to Native American owned businesses not on tribal land.  However, that changed in 2004 when the NLRB issued a decision in which it extended NLRA protection to workers that worked at Native American owned businesses located on tribal land.

Proponents of this bill, The Native American Sovereignty Act, advocated for Congress to pass it to restore tribal self government and argued Native American owned businesses should not be treated any different than state and municipal workers that are excluded from the protections of federal labor law.

Nevertheless, yesterday, Democrats used a filibuster to block the bill.  It is interesting to note that several Senators including Tim Kaine (Democrat from Virginia), Mark Warner (Democrat from Virginia), and Angus King (Independent from Maine) voted in support of the bill (which had been pushed largely by Republicans, although some Democrats in the House had voiced their support for the bill).  The only Republican Senator to not support the measure was Rob Portman from Ohio.

With this somewhat surprising victory for labor unions and their supporters, attention now turns to whether Republicans will try again to pass the bill.  As of this writing, no indication has been made either way by Senate Republican leadership.  With the upcoming midterms, it is possible Republicans will turn their attention to other matters that are more ‘hot button’ issues with voters (compared to The Tribal Sovereignty Act).  However, should Republicans lose control of the Senate during the midterm election, I think it could be quite some time before this bill (or a similar one) would stand a chance of passing.


For additional information:  https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/business/economy/senate-tribal-labor.html

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