Casino workers’ union rallies support for contentious Sky River campaign
The hotel and casino workers’ union rallied in Elk Grove, Tuesday, in an attempt to galvanize support for a contentious organizing campaign at the nearby Sky River Casino.
The organizing effort has escalated into a prolonged legal dispute between the union, Unite Here Local 49, and the Wilton Rancheria, which opened Sky River in 2022. More than 100 casino workers and union allies gathered at Old Town Plaza in Elk Grove Tuesday evening, and called on Sky River to recognize the union as its workers’ representative. During the rally, a group of union organizers and allies delivered worker-signed petitions to the Wilton Rancheria’s offices nearby.
The union has argued that the casino should recognize its represenation of employees under an agreement the groups reached in 2017. The casino has argued that, under the tribe’s law, the union must first hold an election among the workers. Union officials have responded that an election would extend an already prolonged process.
Union allies said Tuesday that they were committed to helping workers secure a labor agreement at Sky River.
“Let’s be clear about this: You are the heart and soul of the community,” Fabrizio Sasso, executive director of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, told the workers gathered Tuesday. “We’re going to turn up the heat until we get a contract.”
In making its case to workers, the union has cited a survey conducted by UC Davis researchers, which found that union-represented casino workers in the region earned, on average, 12.7% more than workers at non-union casinos.
Marcos Lopez, director of research for the UC Davis Labor and Community Center, said that while wages are often higher for union-represented workers in the U.S., the survey yielded other significant responses. For instance, 41% of union-represented workers reported owning or paying a mortgage for a home, compared to 26% of non-union workers. And 9% of union workers reported having a second job, compared to 22% of non-union workers.
Cammeron Hodson, president of Sky River’s gaming authority, said in a statement that the group was reviewing the UC Davis study, but questioned whether it is reflective of Sky River wages.
“Based on what we have reviewed thus far, we believe the sampling number in the study may be too small to provide an accurate perspective when compared to the size of the casino workforce,” he said.
The researchers received 179 responses from workers at unionized casinos, and 59 responses from workers at non-unionized casinos.
Pam Secrease, a Sky River worker, said Tuesday that she makes $19.71 an hour working night shifts as a part-time environmental services worker. Trina Morey, who has worked as a cook at Sky River Casino for two years, said that after her bills are paid each month she typically has $46 left over.
“This is my passion. I love cooking,” Morey said. “But it’s hard. It’s really hard.”
Hodson said the casino offers good wages and benefits, and a union isn’t necessary for competitive pay, strong benefits or a supportive workplace. He said Sky River plans to create “even more career advancement opportunities” through its planned expansion.
The heart of the dispute is the conflict between the 2017 agreement and Wilton Rancheria’s law. The agreement, reached as the tribe was working to secure the government compact it needed to establish Sky River Casino, said that if a majority of workers signed union authorization cards, the casino would recognize the union as the employees’ representative.
The compact was approved that year, and took effect in 2018. In 2019, as required by the compact, the Wilton Rancheria passed a Tribal Labor Relations Ordinance. That ordinance required both a card-check process and a union election.
The union filed a lawsuit over the issue in 2023, which is now in the 9th Circuit.
Attorneys for the casino have argued that the 2017 agreement said explicitly that the tribe’s code governs labor relations at the casino. And officials have stressed the historic significance of seeing Wilton Rancheria’s laws honored. Wilton Rancheria lost its federal recognition and its autonomy to govern in 1959, when the California Rancheria Termination Acts were enacted. The tribe regained its recognition in 2009, and today it has more than 1,000 members, many of them in the Sacramento region.
On its website, the union posted a copy of a letter from an arbitrator who found that the casino must comply with the 2017 agreement, and a letter from another who adopted the previous arbitrator’s conclusion. In August 2024, a district court judge denied a motion to dismiss the first arbitrator’s decision. In August the casino filed a motion in federal court to dismiss the second arbitrator’s award.
The Bee’s José Luis Villegas contributed to this story.
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 7:42 PM.
