California tribes defend labor policies at casinos

Erica Werner

Wednesday, April 2, 2003 | 9:52 a.m.

SACRAMENTO -- California Indian leaders defended their labor practices Tuesday and said an Assembly hearing on health care coverage at casinos was an affront to tribal sovereignty.

The tribal leaders also attacked a report that found employees of a large Southern California casino use government health plans for their families because they can't afford the tribe's insurance.

"It's hard for me to understand why tribal casinos have been singled out from the thousands of employers that struggle to deal with the costs of providing health care," said Anthony Pico, chairman of the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians.

"We oppose this hearing because it is an encroachment on tribal sovereignty," said Priscilla Hunter, chairwoman of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians.

The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services held the informational hearing as tribes and the state begin to renegotiate portions of the agreements, known as compacts, that allow 61 tribes to operate casinos in California.

Gov. Gray Davis is seeking $1.5 billion in revenue from the tribes to help close the estimated $34.6 billion state budget deficit, while some tribes may seek to raise the existing 2,000-per-tribe cap on slot machines.

Labor issues are not up for renegotiation and some tribes said Tuesday they objected to the hearing being called as the compact talks are pending. They also accused a union that helped coordinate testimony of promoting the health coverage report because it is failing to organize casino workers.

"That is why we're here. They couldn't come in the front door so they're trying to come in the back door," said Anthony Miranda of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians.

The report was done by the Institute of Industrial Relations at the University of California, Los Angeles, which surveyed workers at the Agua Caliente Casino near Palm Springs, one of two casinos operated by the wealthy and politically active Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.

The report was funded by UCLA, and researchers gained access to workers with help from the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union, which wants to organize tribal casinos and is known in Las Vegas as the Culinary Union.

The survey of 199 low-wage workers found that 46 percent enrolled their children in Medi-Cal or the state Healthy Families program between October 2002 and January 2003, saving the casino some $1 million a year while costing state taxpayers.

The casino "induces its employees to turn down the casino's offer of health care insurance for casino employees" by making the plan prohibitively expensive, said Eric Nilsson, an economics professor at California State University, San Bernardino, and the lead author of the report.

The study found that the average Agua Caliente worker makes $8.93 an hour, and while the casino pays the full cost of health care for individual workers, it charges workers $960 a year to cover one child and $2,880 a year for a family plan. At the same time the casino tells employees they could save money by enrolling in Healthy Families, the study said.

About a half-dozen Agua Caliente employees attended the hearing.

"We deserve quality, affordable health care, not welfare," said Leslie Stolar, a cocktail server at the Spa Resort Casino, the other casino Agua Caliente operates.

A series of tribal leaders and officials told the committee they provide good working conditions. Two employees of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians testified that the tribe is a good employer.

Agua Caliente did not send representatives to the hearing. Tribal Chairman Richard Milanovich said last week that the casino provides good coverage to workers and recently switched from an HMO to a preferred provider organization at the behest of workers who wanted more flexibility.