Union slams Democrat for vote on Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Oregon). Photo from Facebook

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Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Oregon) has turned his back on unions, labor leaders said after the passage of H.R.511, the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act, in the House.

The 249 to 177 vote fell largely along party lines. But 24 Democrats -- including Schrader -- joined 225 Republicans in supporting a bill that exempts tribes and their enterprises, mainly gaming facilities, from the National Labor Relations Act.

“This isn’t the Kurt Schrader we thought we were getting in 2008," Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain told The Labor Press. Schrader won his first election that year.

The national AFL-CIO said it supports tribal sovereignty but opposed the bill when it came up for a vote on November 17. The bill has yet to be considered in the Senate.

"The AFL-CIO believes in both tribal sovereignty and worker solidarity. We don’t have to choose," President Richard Trumka said in a statement. "The Senate should reject this union-busting bill in its entirety."

The Senate version of the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act is S.248. The bill cleared the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on June 10 with one Democrat voicing an objection

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Oregon Democratic Congressman Kurt Schrader turning hostile to union rights (Oregon Labor Press 12/1)