The exploitation of hotel workers in Rapid City
By Richie RichardsNative Sun News Today Correspondent
nativesunnews.today RAPID CITY – As another tourist season closes in Rapid City and the Black Hills area, the hotel industry closes its doors to hundreds of employees, as many are left with no work or are being made to “call in” to check if they are needed for the day. Lacrosse Street and Mount Rushmore Road serve as the two of the main corridors in and out of Rapid City and tourists fill the dozens of hotels throughout the summer months. Many of the employees who work at these establishments are tribal members living in Rapid City. By May each year, a hiring call goes out on social media, local newspapers, street signs and word of mouth that these hotels are hiring. Hospitality workers flood the hotels in search of employment; many of them unaware of what to expect. Often times, these hotels claim they are hiring “full-time” positions but rarely mention they are seasonal positions that will end after Labor Day weekend. Come September, Rapid City has hundreds of hospitality workers scrambling for jobs each year, as the hotels slow down for business and workers are either laid off or have their hours dwindle down to nearly nothing and they are forced to quit or find another position elsewhere. These hotel industry employees who work in housekeeping, laundry or front desk positions are a disposable commodity to many of these hotel owners and managers who only need to fill three to four month positions per year. Owners and managers are aware there will be a continuous amount of uneducated, unskilled workers with little to no work experience other than in the hospitality trade in Rapid City. When an employee’s hours are back to the point where they are unable to pay their bills or for their basic necessities, they are forced to quit, resign or take on another position elsewhere. In doing so, they are unable to collect unemployment insurance. Businesses are smart enough to keep them just under full time status (40 hours per week), so as to not have to provide benefits such as dental, medical and health. This endless cycle of a disposable employee pool will continue as Rapid City has a very fluid and ever-changing population of tribal members who move back and forth from the reservations. These tribal members come to Rapid City in hopes of finding employment, education, housing and other opportunities. Trying to survive in a tourist town with an annual limited work window, for those with little work experience, is a challenge. Native Sun News Today attempted to interview three individuals who shared their stories but did not want to be formally interviewed for this article. This was in fear of being “8-balled” from the industry and from being publicly shamed for the experiences they had this tourist season as hotel employees; which included not being paid, forced to volunteer hours, racism in the work place, and being fired for unsubstantiated reasons. Rapid City has sold itself on being a gateway to the Black Hills and all the wonderful tourist spots beyond the city borders, but visitors are unaware that the local indigenous population is the backbone of this tourist industry. Tribal members are doing the dirty work and not being compensated, rewarded, or acknowledged for their hard work on many levels. One way to defend these disposable employees is through organizing and starting a union for hotel workers. Although this idea may seem like a revolutionary step locally, it can be a way to ensure that tribal members and local employees are treated with respect, dignity and pride for their place in the tourist industry. The local Rapid City Central Labor Council (AFL-CI0) has been ineffective in bringing hotel industry employees, who happen to be Native American, together to defend their rights and educate them on the laws put in place to protect them.
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