Labor decision against Pequot Tribe was made by disputed NLRB

Thursday, July 8, 2010  

A decision that went against the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut was made by an invalid National Labor Relations Board, The New London Day reports.

The NLRB in Washington, D.C., ordered the tribe to enter into a bargaining agreement with card dealers at its casino. But since the board only had two members at the time, the decision was invalid under a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The NLRB decision, however, became moot when the tribe ended up entering into an agreement with the United Auto Workers under tribal law. But it's possible that a validly-constituted board might have issued a decision in favor of the tribe's sovereignty.

Still, the issue remains important because the tribe is another dispute with a different union. The board now has enough members -- including two who were selected by President Barack Obama and a Republican holdover who supports tribal sovereignty -- to rule on the matter.

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