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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 20, 2007
Edward K. Thomas Gives Keynote Address at the
30th Annual Council for Tribal Employment Rights Conference
 On July 24, 2007 former Tlingit Haida Central Council President, Edward K. Thomas, gave the keynote address to the 30th Annual Council for Tribal Employment Rights (CTER) conference at the Seneca Hotel in Niagara Falls. The luncheon audience of over three hundred was made up of Tribal and Federal Government Representatives/Employees, Attorneys, and Building Trade Union representatives.
Former President Thomas’ keynote was his reflection of the theme “Protecting Tribal Sovereignty in the Aftermath of the San Manuel/National Labor Relations Board Decision and Labor Law Convention.” The San Manuel case is just one case in which Federal agencies have sought to impose Federal employment-related laws on tribally owned business enterprises in the absence of tribally enacted employment and labor ordinances/laws. “The Council for Tribal Employment Rights has done great things over these past 30 years,” said Thomas. Some that he thought were especially important to our tribe are:
- Protecting tribal rights to Indian Preference;
- Drawing attention to the issues of Native employment and unemployment – not just to the attention of ourselves but to those with whom we work to improve Native employment; and
- Bringing our people together to talk about the important employment issues.
He stated how tragic it is that even after 30 years, tribes are still having discussions on many of the same issues “due to the insensitivity of the plight of our people by federal agencies, Congress, states and businesses, and also due to the complexity of the issues.”
Former President Thomas finds it interesting to watch the aggressive actions of non-Natives when tribal enterprises, i.e., casinos, other tribally owned businesses, public works programs, and/or social service programs, are succeeding in their efforts to create employment opportunities for their tribal members that will offer them a better quality of life. Non-Natives do not hesitate to file discrimination suits against tribes and insist on employee unions.
He urged the participants in the conference to “sharpen their negotiating skills and hire labor lawyers to protect these tribal enterprises and sustain benefit to tribal citizens.” The negative side to this, however, is that it will be burdensome to tribes. But, the positive side to this is that tribes will be in the driver’s seat and can negotiate from the point of view of the “haves” instead of the “have nots” and the outcome will be great policies and strong working relationships with major employment organizations.
Former President Thomas further expressed that tribes not become complacent and let their guard down. He encouraged tribes to continue to look for new ways to involve our tribal citizens in meaningful employment.
Former President Thomas shared his perspective as one tribal President of 22 years and the tribal relations with the federal government, some of which are not positive. He served on a number of national boards, commissions, and Native organizations and saw stark differences between the way Indian people are dealt with and the way others are dealt with. One example was when he was appointed to the first Office of Special Trustee Board about the time when the Savings and Loan scandal was settled. The Savings and Loan scandal was settled in three (3) years, yet thirteen (13) years later the Cobell Case is still not settled, and if it does get settled, the Indian account holders in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will lose something. The money doesn’t belong to the federal government - it belongs to the Native Americans that trusted that the federal government would manage it honestly and accurately.
Thomas also served on the National BIA Budget Advisory Council for 10 years and initially thought that if the federal government officials only knew of the disparity of funding to Indian and Alaska Native people they would rise to the occasion and fund tribal programs on a needs basis instead of on a percentage of historical funding. He found that this assumption was wrong and gave an overview of what actually happened.
- In 2000, the General Accountability Office (GAO, the research branch of Congress), wrote a report that pointed out very clearly that tribal programs have lost ground to inflation while the average federal expenditure to non-Natives increased on a per capita basis.
- In 2003, the United States Civil Rights Commission released a report called “A Quiet Crisis” that reaffirmed the GAO report.
- In 2004, Harvard released a report which concluded that the United States loses by under funding tribal programs because dealing with social programs is more expensive then funding programs that build healthy communities.
All these reports were shared with both the Administrative and Legislative Branches of the federal government but tribal funding is still insufficient and constantly under attack in the Administration and Congress as they try to find ways to cut our programs even further. It has not mattered whether the Congress or the federal Administration was Democratic or Republican, tribal programs still lost ground over the past two decades.
In Alaska, tribal representatives have requested increased funding from the BIA because of the serious decline in rural economies creating a lack of job opportunities, yet their requests have gone unfulfilled.
Since 2000, the BIA Central Office has grown 200% ($117 million) while the Tribal Priority Allocation lost ground by approximately 7.7% ($58 million).
Former President Thomas concluded his comments by recognizing John Navarro’s many years of dedicated service to the employment issues of Native Americans and how much his service has meant to all tribes and their citizens.
Navarro expressed his appreciation for Thomas’ speech and for the strong support of Tlingit Haida Central Council to the Council for Tribal Employment Rights over the many years.
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For More Information Contact:
Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
Teresa Germain, Job Developer/TERO
Employment & Training Division
320 W. Willoughby Ave., Ste. 300
Juneau, AK 99801
Tel. 907.463.7136
Email: tgermain@ccthita.org |
