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When it comes to creating labor practices on local reservations, tribal leaders are telling the feds, essentially, hands off.

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe and the Tohono O'odham Nation are joining with tribes around the country that say their casinos and other enterprises shouldn't have to follow a federal labor board ruling that says unions are allowed to organize at tribal casinos, hotels and restaurants, and other businesses.

They want Congress to reverse the National Labor Relations Board decision, which said that as major employers at casinos and other enterprises, tribes are more like businesses than sovereign governments and should be treated as such.

The decision affects only tribes' casinos and other business enterprises, not their governmental offices.

But if it stands, the ruling will set a precedent for tribes around the country and for their workers — many of whom are not tribal members. In Southern Arizona, the Tohono O'odham Nation employs more than 1,200 casino workers, and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe employs 1,300. Both tribes are in the Top 20 in this year's Star 200 ranking of the area's largest employers.

As sovereign nations, tribes contend they should not be under the jurisdiction of the NLRB, which protects private-sector workers' rights to organize unions, engage in collective bargaining and strike.

"We are a government," said Pascua Yaqui Chairwoman Herminia Frias. The Pascua Yaqui operate Casino del Sol and Casino of the Sun in southwest Tucson. "The federal labor laws don't apply to the state or other local municipalities; it should not apply to us."

In general, most federal labor laws apply to tribes, said Kevin Gover, a professor at Arizona State University's law school.

Tribes are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act — which sets federal minimum wage and overtime standards — and some federal environmental laws, said Gover, who was assistant secretary of the interior for Indian Affairs from 1996 to 2001.

Under certain conditions, employees can bring discrimination suits against tribal-operated businesses, said Ernest Haffner, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission attorney in Washington, D.C.

Tribes are exempted from labor laws if those laws violate a treaty provision, Gover said. For example, tribes can have Indian-preference laws.

Also, the Americans with Disabilities Act and age discrimination laws do not apply, because the laws don't consider tribes to be employers. Some policies can apply to tribal-owned businesses, though.

Finally, state labor laws do not apply to tribes, Gover said. Tribal governments and courts set their own labor standards.

Both the O'odham and Pascua Yaqui enterprises follow federal labor laws, gaming officials said.

The Tohono O'odham Nation, which runs two Desert Diamond Casinos, in Tucson and south of the city, and the Golden Ha:san Casino near Why, takes pride in the way it treats employees, officials said.

"The Gaming Enterprise's employees all are paid in excess of the minimum wage, and the vast majority of its employees are paid much more than the minimum wage," a prepared statement says.

Benefits include medical, dental and vision insurance; a 401(k) retirement plan; life insurance; and short- and long-term disability insurance.

The casinos work with the O'odham executive gaming board and human-resources office to handle employment issues, said Tribal Chairwoman Vivian Juan-Saunders. The employee-rights office handles internal grievances and tracks adherence to American Indian hiring-preference laws, she said.

Pascua Yaqui wages also exceed the federal minimum, said Pilar Thomas, the tribe's interim attorney general. Employees of the tribe's casino, convenience store, gas station and tobacco shop also have family-leave policies, overtime and 40-hour workweeks, Thomas said.

The tribe pays for workers' compensation through a private insurance company, she said. And it has a grievance system to handle issues internally at the casinos and enterprises, she said.

"Our goal, like many businesses, is to have a good competitive environment," she said. "We want to attract as many workers as we can to the jobs."

Labor policies new

For most tribes, developing labor policies for reservation business enterprises is a relatively new practice, said Philip S. Deloria, director of the American Indian Law Center Inc. in Albuquerque.

"Tribes have never had to deal with this sort of thing before," he said. "They've never been big employers of non-Indians, and they've never been big employers in big sectors."

But as tribes develop commercial enterprises, labor policy and laws are becoming big issues for Indian country. And it only makes sense that they're going to see more union organizing, said Gover, the ASU law professor.

Some hotel and restaurant workers will say they need to organize to protect their interests, he said. "But that's not really the case here," he said. "Most tribes are more generous with pensions and benefits. Workers and unions don't want to mess that up."

Organizing at the casinos has not been an issue, said Thomas of the Yaqui Tribe and John Fendenheim, chairman of the Tohono O'odham Gaming Enterprise.

"Unions usually form because of bad management and not treating employees well," Thomas said. "We try to avoid that with good management and pay, and not because we're anti-union."

About six former casino workers have sought help from the Tucson chapter of Jobs With Justice since it formed two years ago, said Steven Valencia, who heads the group.

He has tried to talk with casino managers and tribal department heads about allegations of unfair labor practices and has asked for neutral third-party reviews. "It's been pretty elusive. We've written letters to tribal and casino managers, but we have never gotten a response," he said.

Sharon Boose, 59, a former security dispatcher at Desert Diamond Casino, said she turned to Jobs With Justice after she lost her job when the casino changed to a four-day, 10-hour work schedule. She said she sought an exemption from casino managers because health issues prevented her fromworking extended hours.

Although she had doctors' notes and filed paperwork with the casino's human-resources office, Boose said, she was wrongfully terminated because of her condition. She went to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to file a complaint, but was told that because of tribal jurisdiction, it could not intervene unless she sues.

She now works with Jobs With Justice.

Desert Diamond officials said in a statement that they provide accommodations to disabled employees and pay for evaluations and for time off during evaluations.

"A disgruntled former employee who claims to have been treated unfairly refused to be evaluated by an independent medical professional and, therefore, was not eligible for an accommodation," the statement said.

Boose contends she went to a company doctor and did all she was asked to do but still was terminated.

Casino officials call Boose part of a tiny minority.

"We have more than 1,200 employees, and this is one employee," said Fendenheim, who heads the nation's gaming enterprise. "We give everything we can to our employees."

Still, her case shows why casino employees need the protection of the National Labor Relations Board, said Valencia, of Jobs With Justice.

"Workers need tools in which to deal with problems at work," he said. "It does not matter where those workers are. Across the street or on a sovereign land or in South Tucson, workers demand democracy and workers require protection of their jobs."