In another assault on our tribal workers, the LCO Tribal
Council yesterday voted no to a proposal for a Tribal Employee Rights Ordinance
(TERO) on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation. The TERO would have required
that all employers engaged in operating a business or contractor job on the
reservation would have to give preference to qualified tribal members in all
aspects of employment, contracting and other business activities. The TERO
could also insure that tribal employees are paid wages equal to non-tribal
employees.
Jeff Crone presented the proposal to the council a couple of
weeks ago. He would have been director of the TERO office that would have
enforced the ordinance at LCO. According to Jeff, at that time he had support
for the office, but in the meeting yesterday morning, the vote turned out
differently. Voting to support our tribal workforce were Don Carley, Larry
Kagigebi and Gordon Thayer, but voting no were Rusty Barber, Little Guy and
Norma Ross. Breaking the tie, of course, was Mic Isham.
Jeff said that just two weeks ago Rusty Barber told him
eye-to-eye that he supported the TERO proposal, and he believed that Little Guy
also supported it. So what changed between then and now that they would side
with their usual block of votes and turn down this much-needed ordinance to
protect our workforce.
“This is a great thing for our tribe and instead, they are
playing politics,” Jeff said.
It’s no secret that Jeff Crone is on Mic Isham’s blackball
list along with so many of us. Mic already dissolved the Eagle Wings Safety
Center late last year because it was a previous accomplishment of former
chairman Gordon Thayer, who had Jeff Crone as director of the center.
But, in the case of a TERO office here at LCO, that petty BS
should have been put aside and the protection of tribal employment should have
been the priority. This is just another assault though, in a long list of
recent attacks on the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal workforce, from all the lost
jobs at the casino, to the health center and to the fact that there are rarely
any tribal members working as directors or assistant directors at any tribal
entities anymore. Who hold the top positions at housing, the health center, the
school, the college? Our tribal workforce is being thinned out and eliminated.
To top of the assault on our workers, 18 housing
construction workers have recently been laid off and 20 LCO Development workers
have been laid off. That’s 38 construction workers who could have been put back
to work under a TERO.
Let’s take a look at some examples of how a TERO would
protect our workers. The recent bridge construction on Hwy CC next to the
Landing didn’t have one tribal worker on the construction crew. Not a one and
this project was done within tribal boundaries. With a TERO we could have
stopped the construction all-together until they hired at least 75% tribal
workers, according to the ordinance. Also, let’s say the non-tribal company
that was hired to put a roof on the grocery store didn’t hire enough tribal
workers. I’m not sure how many tribal members were hired for that job, I know I
saw some of them out there, but if it were only 30%, this could have been fixed
to make the company hire the required 75%.
The construction season is just starting up and you’re going
to see projects all over the place and how many of our workers are going to be
on those jobs? Under a TERO, it would have been Jeff’s job to make sure that at
least 75% of the workers on all those jobs would have been tribal members,
those 38 unemployed housing and development workers.
I asked Little Guy why he voted against the TERO. He said it
was because there was no money in the budget for it. Think of the huge benefit
this would be for our tribe to keep these guys working, and to protect any
future workers. This ordinance wouldn’t just include construction jobs, but all
jobs and it could be used to insure anyone owning a business within reservation
boundaries start hiring tribal workers. How much is that worth?
Mic Isham said in the meeting that a TERO office wasn’t
needed because our tribal attorney Jim Schlender could take care of this. How
can a supposedly busy tribal attorney take time out of his schedule to enforce
a tribal employee rights ordinance?
I hope that you, the membership, are beginning to see the
pattern here. Our tribal workforce is the last thing on our leadership’s mind. Mic,
Little Guy, Norma and Rusty continue to sit back and watch the attack on our
tribal workforce by non-tribal directors and a manager who may be a tribal
member, but never grew up on the reservation. I’m talking about Lee Harden and
his assault on the workers at the casino. Lee has no idea what life is like for
our people. At the meeting yesterday, Lee gave a monthly report to the council
claiming that employee morale is higher than ever. I had to laugh to myself
because if this is true, it’s simple really… It’s because he has eliminated all
the Indian workers that he wanted to now and has a majority of non-tribal
members working in that casino. I went to lunch there on Friday and in the
buffet, there wasn’t one Native female server. Supposedly there are a couple of
Native girls working in the kitchen, but not out in front where Lee’s
non-Native customers will see them. I had the gut feeling when I was there that
this is intentional. Hide the Natives! Call me crazy, but that’s the way I see
it. Our group of five immediately pointed out the lack of Native workers in the
buffet. And, someone from another group mentioned it to me the next day,
without me even bringing it up. So, our tribal people are taking notice to
this.
With a TERO office, this is the kind of thing that Jeff
could investigate, the amount of Native workers at the casino, and fight to get
our people back to work there. I would really like to know right now what the
percentage of non-Native workers to Native workers is at the casino. How many
of our people are suffering with homelessness and unemployment right now? And
our tribal council leadership consisting of Chairman Mic Isham, Vice-Chair
Rusty Barber, Sec-Treasurer Norma Ross and Little Guy Clause are standing aside
and not doing a damn thing about it, as evidenced by their willingness to vote
down a much-needed program here at LCO, the TERO office.
I leave you with this information from the Keweenaw Bay
Tribal Community’s website about their TERO:
What are the characteristics of TERO?
The core characteristics of the program provide additional
and valuable insights into why the law and enforcement program are needed and
applied. The following are three vital characteristics of TERO.
TERO is a true act of self-determination. The decision to
enact a Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance is based on each individual tribe's
needs and priorities.
TERO programs are action oriented. TERO offices are a
no-nonsense, hands-on, result-orientated, and process driven compliance
programs.
TEROs are systematically structured programs. Key elements
of the structure include:
Legal Framework: TERO utilizes a sound and comprehensive
framework that encompasses the use of Tribal, Federal, contract, and, where
applicable, State employment law.
Administrative Structure: TERO programs have a well
developed administrative structure which utilizes a thorough enforcement
process.
Synergistic Partnering: TERO programs apply synergistic
partnering principles in relationships with employers in an effort to develop
relationships that benefit both parties.
What are the basic TERO requirements?
All covered employers operating a business within
tribal/village jurisdiction are required to provide Indian and Native
preference in employment, training, contracting, sub-contracting, and in all
other aspects of employment. Below are several specific examples employers are
required to comply with. Employers must:
Submit an acceptable compliance plan detailing the steps
they will take to ensure compliance with the TERO requirements. Note: TERO
compliance plans are closely fashioned after those used by OFCCP for
affirmative action compliance.
Utilize the TERO skills bank for all referrals and consider
Indian/Native applicants before interviewing or hiring non-Indian/Natives.
Agree to hire no less than a specific number of
Indian/Natives in each job classification and cooperate (where feasible) with
tribal training programs to hire a certain number of trainees.
Eliminate all extraneous job qualification criteria or
personnel requirements which may act as barriers to Indian/Native employment.
EEOC guidelines on legal BFOQs are used by TEROs.
All employers who have collective bargaining agreements with
one or more unions must secure a written agreement from them indicating they
will comply with TERO.
Agree to acknowledge and respect tribal religious beliefs
and cultural differences and to cooperate with TERO to provide reasonable
accommodations.
All contractors claiming preference must file for
certification as Indian owned businesses.
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