Hospitality workers at the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe’s casino, hotel, restaurants and fuel station have ratified their first union contract, making Blue Lake the first North Coast tribe to have a unionized workforce.
The Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe has reached an agreement with Unite Here Local 49, which will represent more than a hundred hospitality workers at the tribe’s largest businesses, such as the Blue Lake Casino and Blue Lake Hotel. The agreement includes “access to competitive wages that keep up with the cost of living in the region, more paid time off, and benefits that support working parents,” according to a Monday press release.
“The Blue Lake Rancheria supports organized labor and a year ago readily agreed to a fair process under which employees could choose whether to unionize without interference,” Jason Ramos, tribal administrator, said in a statement. “Once the workers made the decision to unionize, the Tribe negotiated in good faith to achieve a mutually beneficial contract in a short timeframe.”
The tribe also expressed its support for organized labor “at a time when there’s been a surge inunion organization interest nationwide.”
The number of unionized workers in the U.S. has been dropping for decades. About 20.1% of all wage and salary workers in the country belonged to a union in 1983 compared to 10.3% in 2021.
However, there has been a renewed interest in unionization this year. In the first nine months of the fiscal year, the number of union representation petitions filed at the National Labor Relations Board was up 58% compared to a year prior, exceeding the total number of petitions filed in all of fiscal year 2021.
Charges of unfair labor practice increased 16% during the same time, from 11,082 to 12,819.
The tribe views unionizing as a progressive way to retain employees and stay competitive in recruiting new employees in the face of ongoing labor shortages, according to the Monday press release.
Multiple industries have been facing a shortage of workers since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered first large unemployment and then what is known as the Great Resignation, an increase in the number of workers quitting their jobs.
Workers that weren’t part of a union had median weekly earnings that were 83% of the median weekly earnings of a union member — the difference between $975 and $1,169 in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Ashley Whipple, a union representative, said in a statement that being part of a union will help ensure workers have opportunities for promotions and consistent raises, which is particularly important at a time when inflation is at a historic high.
“I think there are multiple benefits to being part of a union,” Whipple said. “I think the biggest one would probably be the accountability, not just for employers but for employees, too. It creates a space of fairness. I think it opens the door for better communication between employers and employees.”
Sonia Waraich can be reached at 707-441-0504.