Union celebrates federal court ruling in dispute with Elk Grove’s Sky River Casino
The Sacramento region’s hotel and casino workers’ union this week celebrated a win in the group’s yearslong legal disputes with Sky River Casino in Elk Grove.
Unite Here Local 49 has sought to represent the employees since before the casino’s existence, and in recent years the campaign has escalated with lawsuits and protests outside the casino. Sky River and the union have been mired in a dispute over whether Unite Here must be recognized as the workers’ labor representative after securing a majority of signed union authorization cards from employees, or whether it must organize an election.
The federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion this week supporting an arbitrator’s findings that the union may follow the card-signing process.
“My coworkers and I have been clear. We have signed cards,” said Francisco Maldonado, a lead cook at the casino, at a union news conference Friday morning. “We have been patient. We’re tired of the delays. We want to be recognized as a union. It’s time to sit down and bargain with us.”
Cammeron Hodson, president of the Wilton Rancheria’s gaming authority, said the tribe is “deeply disappointed” in the decision.
The Wilton Rancheria opened the casino in 2022, and officials there have held that the unionization process must follow an election as detailed in the tribe’s labor ordinance.
“We will continue to fight to ensure that every voice is heard and respected under a fair process rooted in our Tribal laws,” Hodson said in a statement.
In 2017, as the Wilton Rancheria sought a state compact to establish a casino, the groups reached an agreement that laid out the terms by which Unite Here could seek to represent the future establishment’s workers. It said that an arbitrator would review employees’ union authorization cards, and if a majority had signed, the tribe would recognize the union as the employees’ representative.
The casino’s compact was approved in 2017. In 2019, as required by that compact, the tribe passed a labor relations law. In 2023, about a year after the casino opened, the union said it had secured authorization cards from a majority of workers.
The casino has since argued that, under Wilton Rancheria’s labor law, the union must also hold an election among the workers. The Wilton Rancheria’s attorneys have said that disregarding the election process detailed in its labor code would disregard the tribe’s sovereignty.
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 has more than 1,000 members, many of them in the Sacramento region.
The union sued in November 2023. It has held that an election isn’t necessary under the 2017 agreement, and an election would extend an already prolonged process, and raise opportunities for complications and appeals.
Throughout the campaign, the union has cited a survey by UC Davis researchers who found workers at non-unionized casinos in the region earned $18.12 an hour on average, or 12.7% less than workers at union-represented casinos.
Attorneys for the Wilton Rancheria and Unite Here gave their arguments before the 9th Circuit in December. The hearing focused on a previous decision by an arbitrator who found that Sky River must adhere to the 2017 agreement. In August 2024, a district court judge denied a motion to dismiss the first arbitrator’s decision. Attorneys for the casino requested that the court reverse the district court’s order.
This week’s opinion was issued as an unpublished memorandum, which does not set precedent, the union said.
Hodson, of the gaming authority, said the tribe is “steadfast” in its commitment to defend its sovereignty.
The union said it is ready to negotiate a contract.
“The cards have been counted,” said Aamir Deen, president of Unite Here Local 49. “The judges and arbitrators have ruled. The workers have patiently waited. It’s time to bargain.”
This story was originally published April 10, 2026 at 1:47 PM.
