The Indian Gaming Industry a creation of the Democratic Party

A response to a member of an AFL-CIO affiliated union...

We are fighting every day for what is right. Provable? What I say is so blatant it embarrasses Richard Trumka to even think about the plight of workers employed in the Indian Gaming Industry... I have all kinds of documentation. I will be happy to make a presentation to the AFL-CIO Executive Board any time... I speak to union locals all over the Midwest about the plight of casino workers. Beginning on Labor Day 2011 I will be touring through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania talking about the plight of casino workers in the Indian Gaming Industry and how our plight is a symptom of the problems in the Democratic Party and the labor movement and the problems we are fighting to solve that will benefit the entire working class--- and why we need to dump Obama. Some people in the labor movement whose members have been tossed a few scraps and bones from Obama don't like to hear me say this; but, consider our position... we are getting nothing but shit. And since you haven't itemized one single thing you have gotten out of Obama and the Democratic Party I assume you and your members have gotten a pile of shit, too.

Furthermore, if you doubt anything I say, it is up to you to prove me wrong. I have a lot of things posted on my blogs about the plight of casino workers and the betrayal of the Democratic Party and the AFL-CIO... you see, I don't need lectures about what to do or how to do it; the very fact that people from all over read what I post on here, on my blogs, listen to what I say in union halls and church basements and sitting in living rooms and around kitchen tables and more and more people are listening. And the more people listen the greater the embarrassment becomes for the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party.

Here are the facts; what more do I need to prove?

Two million American workers are employed in the Indian Gaming Industry at over 350 casinos, hotels/motels, convention centers, restaurants and theme parks working in loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws because the Democratic Party, with the full knowledge and complicity of the AFL-CIO whose many affiliates have their pension funds invested in these casinos--- notably the Teamsters (CTW) and the Teacher Union Pension Funds and the Building Trades Unions have worked out sweetheart agreements with these mobsters for their members to be employed constructing these casinos BUT their members aren't even protected by written contracts and business managers, business agents and union stewards are not even allowed on these job sites which are not even policed by OSHA or any of its state bodies where state building and fire inspectors are not permitted on the construction sites. By the way, the United States Department of Labor refuses to even enforce things so basic as wages and hours.

Employers have been responsible for creating some terrible working conditions in this country but never before has a political party been so involved in seeing to it that government is used to actually create these conditions as is the case with the Indian Gaming Industry that was established through "Compacts" intentionally drafted and designed to create this most horrendous situation... try working in one of these loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos for a few months and then let's see if you doubt what I am telling you.

You wouldn't send your children to work at a Burger King or McDonalds under these conditions and yet the Democratic Party with full complicity of the AFL-CIO sends two-million Americans to work under these conditions: Why? Because the Democratic Party is reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from these casino managements every election cycle.

Certainly you understand that workers without a voice at work and without any rights at work have no rights in the communities they live in because the first time they open their mouths about what is going on they get fired.

Workers employed in this Indian Gaming Industry are forced to sign statements as a condition of their employment that they understand they will be fired if they participate in any union organizing activity... blatantly illegal in any other industry here in the United States... and against all international labor covenants and standards.

Richard Trumka is worried about the plight of workers in China but he has lifted a finger or opened his big, fat mouth about the plight of casino workers forced to work in this great bastion of democracy under these conditions.

Some politicians and "labor leaders" complain that nothing is being done about this situation because of the manner I have raised this issue--- well, I ask them why they allowed this to develop in the first place then they wouldn't have to listen to me--- and, there is nothing stopping Richard Trumka from insisting that these "Compacts" be opened to include full protections extended to all other workers employed in the Indian Gaming Industry.