MASHANTUCKET, Conn. – More than two years after the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation vowed to challenge a Foxwoods Resort Casino union election conducted under federal labor regulations all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the tribal nation’s gaming authority and 2,500 dealers represented by the United Auto Workers have reached the first ever labor contract negotiated under tribal law.

The landmark agreement between the Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprise and UAW Local 2121 sets a model for improved labor relations between tribal nations and employees throughout Indian country, but it also leaves in place a federal appeals court ruling that sovereign Indian nations are subject to the National Labor Relations Act.

Dealers voted 1,053-355, a 3-to-1 ratio, Jan. 29, to ratify the contract, which covers table games and poker dealers at Foxwoods Resort Casino and the MGM Grand at Foxwoods. More than 1,000 dealers eligible to vote did not.

“This agreement gives management the operational flexibility and cost controls necessary to remain competitive in the current economic climate,” said Michael Speller, president of Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprise. “The contract allows the enterprise to achieve significant savings in employee benefit costs, which were previously above market rates, while permitting employees to receive modest wage increases in 2010 and 2011. These savings will allow us to create a better product which will result in increased business for the benefit of our employees and Foxwoods alike.”

Foxwoods employees voted in November 2007 to form a union under the federal National Labor Relations Act. Mashantucket refused to acknowledge the act’s jurisdiction on sovereign Indian land. After almost a year of jurisdictional battles, the UAW agreed to negotiate under tribal law.

“This is the first collective bargaining agreement to acknowledge tribal jurisdiction, which was the basis on which both parties expended extraordinary efforts to reach an agreement,” said Mashantucket Tribal Council Chairman Rodney Butler.

George Taylor, a Foxwoods blackjack dealer and one of eight members of the dealers’ negotiating committee called the contract “a monumental victory.”

“We fought long and hard for this and overcame so many obstacles. … It means we really brought people together. We brought it back to one casino,” Taylor said after the votes had been counted.

“Everyone knows workers are facing difficult economic times, and the same goes for the casinos. This contract gives us job stability and improvements we can count on, and we’ll all be working hard to help our casino get on a better financial footing.”

The contract provides an average 12 percent increase in dealers’ wages over two years. Foxwoods dealers average about $35,000 in wages and tips per year.

The contract also establishes a more equitable way to distribute tips that will provide increases to a majority of dealers, the union said in announcing the contract.

The contract secures full-time jobs with benefits by reducing the number of “casual” dealers through promotions to regular part-time jobs with benefits.

The contract also establishes a fair grievance procedure. Mashantucket Pequot tribal law prohibits strikes by workers and lockouts by the employer. Unresolved disputes are settled through arbitration.

The contract provides a precedent for job safety in casinos, including programs to reduce repetitive stress injuries, a major extension of medical leave time for workers with serious illnesses for more than six months, and a unique 24-table “smoke-free pit” to help workers and customers who are sensitive to second-hand smoke.

A union spokesman, who asked not to be named, said he believed both negotiation teams came away from the table satisfied with the contract.

“The members did get a good deal and in return for that what you’re going to see very shortly is a union-sponsored campaign to bring union members from all over New England into the casino and promote Foxwoods heavily as a destination for union members who hope to visit such a wonderful space and resort. I think the union realizes it’s going to be payback time because the fact is the casino itself is in some financial difficulty. It needs an influx of folks and I think we can provide that,” he said.

The initiative to encourage the 210,000 union workers in the region to visit Foxwoods is not part of the contract.

“It’s a moral commitment,” the spokesman said.

John Dossett, the National Congress of American Indians’ general counsel, said the contract settlement is “good news” but it doesn’t solve the labor issue for the other hundreds of tribes.

“I don’t imagine that the contract at Foxwoods means the San Manuel ruling is irrelevant,” Dossett said, referring to a 2007 appeals court majority decision essentially ruling that the National Labor Relations Act applies to tribal businesses on sovereign Indian land.

“That’s still a very troubling decision on the authority of these federal agencies, in this case, the National Labor Relations Board and its ability to kind of override tribal law and make tribes subject to federal law. I think that’s still a big concern,” Dossett said.

Other tribes may consider the Foxwoods model, but it doesn’t mean all tribes will want to consider it or that all unions would agree to negotiate under tribal law.

“So the San Manuel ruling sits there until another case comes up,” Dossett said.

The NCAI has for a long time encouraged tribal nations to get their regulatory houses in order.

“Tribes need to pass tribal laws on these issues, very much like what Mashantucket did. I think the worst situation is going to be when tribes don’t have any laws on federal matters in place, and then when a federal agency steps in it’s going to be much more difficult to convince a court or the agency or anyone to defer to tribal authority, if that tribal authority hasn’t been exercised,” Dossett said.

Tribal nations need to regulate a host of issues in areas such as public safety, age and gender discrimination, and because they’ve become such large employers, it’s important for tribes to have their rules and regulations, policies and procedures, handbooks and other aids completed and available.

“The best scenario is that tribal authority is never challenged because everybody understands the tribe has a good system in place and is administering it fairly, and then the legal challenges will be diminished,” Dossett said.