Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

We write this letter in an attempt to educate the community members about one business organization within Akwesasne. We will use this real event as an example for using Sovereignty in a manner that is wrong and demeaning to our own native community. Please understand that this is not an attempt of retaliation by disgruntled employees, it is merely a message for everyone to realize how Sovereignty is wrongly used for one’s own gain through economics and poor management practices that will continue to affect our community when not corrected.

On Wed., April 9th, 2008, one tobacco manufacturing company called native women to work without pay while non-native hourly employees were still getting paid.  As told by one employee, native women were being laughed at by the non-natives because they had to work without pay.  These unethical work practices have caused some long-term employees to walk off the job as they were left no other option.  

These native women were told on the morning of April 9th that if they did not want to re-do previous work from prior two shifts (re-doing 6000 cases of cigarettes over the next few weeks without pay), then the company would consider it their resignation if they left the workplace or didn’t want to come in. Told by the supervisor, it was said that the bigger buyers were not satisfied with the tobacco products, and that this company had “quality” tobacco that no other company has, the bags of tobacco were too loose and they wanted them to be filled to the top. In actuality, these errors occurred by poor management practices and recklessness to quantify production as quick as possible rather than weighing their products. Native employees have told management over the past two years that the tobacco should be weighed. It took two years in business and the current situation for this company to realize they needed to weigh their products. They finally invested in a scale last week. They must have been able to purchase a scale at the expense of not paying their native employees.

Native workers who have remained at the workplace on Wed., April 9th feared job loss.  Those that walked-off the job have families to provide for but could not tolerate the ridicule. The remaining native employees were expected to continue to work so long as they show up to work under “iron fist” conditions. By the way, how much of the 6000 cases or more were actually reported to the SRMT Compliance dept. in which the tobacco company is licensed through? What is the role or protocol of the compliance dept? Does the SRMT’s compliance dept. also realize that this company’s tobacco sales have increased significantly since that week?

This tobacco manufacturing company’s policy states that they pride themselves on the excerpts within the following Mission Statement”:

“…providing employment in a safe, positive and rewarding environment maintains our focus on customer being #1. … promotes trust, openness, teamwork, professionalism and pride in what we do…”

Ironically, they’ve proven not to do any of the above in this situation:

Childlike tantrums caused the current tobacco factory to operate under no employee safeguards without pay for a full days work for native employees, breaking laws that prohibit slavery that is degrading to the human race and sometimes practiced in 3rd world countries.

Embarrassingly, on Thursday, April 10, the boss and non-native supervisor told native employees that they would compensate their pay at $50.00 per day but could not afford to pay them for the previous day they worked without pay, and that the previous day they worked (Wed.) was just a test. How professional is that?

Does the #1 customer realize their products are that of slave labor? There’s word that this company in the process buying a Hotel and going for a Federal license? Or, may already be federally licensed? How can they afford to do that if they cannot pay a few native employees for a days work?  Why would anyone back their corporate investments if there is no surety or return, and they allow slavery to happen? Sounds like gangsterism doesn’t it?

It took from April 11th though April 18th, 2008, after several attempts to contact the boss by phone. On Friday April 18th, contact was made through telephone and it was asked if these women still had a job. The boss said no to this question in retaliation because they went to the tribal trustees first, this is what embarrassed him. Letting pettiness guide his actions, the boss questioned; “who told the chiefs?” By the way, this company has no grievance procedure to rectify situations accept to go to the next in the chain-of-command. Is this what they call professional, trust and openness? You get canned for following through on the chain-of-command. By the way, it was stated by a company employee that their HR dept. had no idea of what is happening in that week with the tobacco manufacturing branch of this company?

Once the supervisor carried out “the message” for the boss that the native women had to work without pay, he took off for vacation while employees had to remain at work. This is what they call teamwork. Was his vacation with pay?

As for safety, this tobacco company also keeps a blind eye to the future generations of those whom they employ.

This tobacco company also has a policy for unauthorized business “secrets”, probably so they can get away with treating native employees as they did in this instance. This is one good example of why Federal Agencies want to regulate businesses on the reserve. What has the SRMT Council done to keep this tobacco company in compliance with its ordinances? How much violations and non-native employment status is actually shared between this tobacco company and the NYS Dept. of Labor? How much corruption will the tribe allow to happen to their own people as they claim not to condone corrupt practices? Is someone getting kick-backs? Does this real example constitute the RICO Act? A tribal trustee once quoted: “it’s in despicable…to throw stones at glass houses”. So how can the tribe intervene in this case so that native people are protected and businesses don’t get away with things like this? This is no way to exercise Sovereignty.

On reserve organizations should maintain 100% native employment preference (with pay) while operating on the reserve. At this tobacco manufacturing company, why should non-natives on the reserve continue to get paid when natives DO NOT?  Those women (and their families) who were forced to leave work and those that worked without pay should be compensated, with an apology. Why is slavery tolerated within our community?  What example does this set for other businesses within our community and native people alike? Why expand business growth when there is no benefit for our people, again? What can we do to stop those that use Sovereignty in a manner that is wrong and demeaning? How can we prevent these things from happening now, so that the future is not worse than this for our children?

Signed,

Kanetisaks for Concerned Native Women