Tribes not exempt from U.S. labor laws
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Indian tribes are subject to federal labor laws, an appeals court ruled Friday in a case that could lead to stricter labor protections &#151; and more unions &#151; at the nation's booming Indian casinos.
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A booze ban hasn't kept alcohol off Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where alcoholism is rampant, but some tribal members hope a road blockade might curtail bootlegging.
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By Robert Gehrke, The Salt Lake Tribune  Sep. 15--The Bush administration expressed reservations Thursday about  key provisions of a bill, already opposed by environmental groups, aimed at  shaping the explosive growth in Washington County.
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Canadian mining company Teck Cominco Ltd. asked a US court yesterday to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it by a US native group whose land borders Lake Roosevelt, just over the border in Washington state.
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The National Labor Relations Board ruled yesterday that nurses with full-time responsibility for assigning fellow hospital workers to particular tasks are supervisors under federal labor law and thus not eligible to be represented by unions.
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The Southern Ute tribeâs reservation in Colorado sits on a rich deposit of methane gas, which has allowed it to become an energy powerhouse. Yet some are wary of the tribeâs newfound clout.
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American Indian tribes throughout the country will receive 2,000 unused trailers that were intended for but never given to Hurricane Katrina victims.
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The Supreme Court ruled Monday that home care workers are not entitled to overtime pay under federal law.
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The United States government has  not discriminated against native Hawaiians by declining to  recognize them as an American Indian tribe, a U.S. federal  appeals court ruled on Wednesday.
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The National Labor Relations Board issued a ruling that will exempt some workers from union membership if they have certain kinds of supervisory duties.
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The Supreme Court ruled today that home care workers employed by agencies are not entitled to overtime pay.
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The Story: Silicon Valley businesses have long argued that changes in the immigration laws are needed to ensure a continuing supply of highly skilled workers. The current limit of 65,000 under the standard H1-B visas is not enough, they say. (The quota was filled in less than a month in 2007.)[ Slideshow: 2007's top underreported tech stories ]                                                    But that number obscures an important fact: The real total of visas issued to highly skilled workers is closer to 400,000 annually, according to the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) agency. And that, say some critics, may mean that the law is being abused.There are two reasons the number is so large.First, the H1-B visa cap has a built-in exemption that allows an additional 20,000 workers who have graduated from U.S. universities with an advanced degree (master?s or higher) to enter every year.Second ? and the biggest reason ? is the use of L-1 visas, which are granted to executives and workers with specialized skills employed by multinational companies. Because there is no cap on L-1 visas issued each year, the numbers have soared. In the last three years, an average of 315,000 L-1 visas have been issued each year.Unlike the H-1B visas, the L-1 visas are not intended to be a springboard to possible permanent residency and a coveted green card. In essence, the L-1s are intended to allow multinational companies to rotate staff across national borders, so they can transfer foreign managers and specialists within the company to U.S. offices for a limited period of time.But the vast number of workers admitted with L-1 visas has critics suspecting that companies ? Indian outsourcing firms in particular ?are using them as a back door to bring in lower-paid workers to do jobs that could be performed by Americans, rather than for the intended purposes of staff rotation."It's clear that foreign outsourcing firms are abusing the system, and we can't let that continue," Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said earlier this year as Congress debated immigration reform. Here?s what upset him: According to immigration records, 14 of 20 companies whose employees were granted the most L-1 visas were offshore outsourcing firms, including Tata Consultancy, Satyam Computer Services, Wipro, and Infosys Technologies.Tata Consultancy obtained 4,887 L-1s in fiscal 2006 ? the most of any company ? and 3,601 in fiscal 2007, second only to Cognizant (4,869), a U.S.-based outsourcer with a major presence in India. "I find it hard to believe that any one company has that many individuals ? legitimately being transferred within a single year," Durbin said in Congress. (Tata declined to comment to InfoWorld, but a spokesman told BusinessWeek, "We're complying with the law and with the regulations. We want to work with Congress to address any issues they may have.")Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, Tata, and Cognizant also appear on the CIS?s top 10 list of companies obtaining H-1B visas for employees in fiscal 2007, along with Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Motorola, and Intel. Those facts further raise critics? suspicions.Bob Meltzer, who heads the VisaNow firm that helps applicants obtain visas, says there?s a growing belief that the L-1s are being abused today, though he can?t tell if that belief is justified. He does note that the L-1s had been abused in the early 1990s in the manner that critics suspect is happening today.The Bottom Line: Immigration is a tough issue. And it?s even tougher when we don?t have all the facts, as is the case on employers? claims of labor shortages requiring more foreign hires and employees? claims of being replaced by foreign workers by companies looking to save a buck. When you?ve figured out the right balance, let the pols know what you think.Complete list of 2007's underreported stories: 1.? Java is becoming the new Cobol 2.? Sun Microsystems is back in the game 3.? Hackers take aim at Mac OS X 4.? There are some threats you can worry less about 5.? Companies may have found a way around H-1B visa limits 6.? Open source?s new commercial strategy 7.? End-to-end Ethernet finally arrives 8.? Blade servers arrive for the masses 9.? BI is dead; long live BI 10. Balance of power shifts to software buyers
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Car Nicobar, with an Indian military presence and indigenous tribes, is kept off limits to foreign aid workers.
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KOKOMO, Ind. - Members of the largest of three United Auto Workers locals in Kokomo, Ind., overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract with Chrysler LLC last night.
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Yes, there is a Labor Day holiday in Germany, but it's observed on May 1. So Tommy Haas didn't mind working overtime in an American tennis sweatshop yesterday afternoon.
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By DAVID KRAVETS  SAN FRANCISCO - Attorneys for Southwestern Indian tribes urged a federal appeals court Thursday to block the proposed expansion of an Arizona ski resort they say already desecrates land they hold sacred and sullies their religious beliefs.
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WASHINGTON - In a sharp rebuke of a new administration policy, the House moved Thursday to block the Labor Department from carrying out overtime rules that critics argued could deprive millions of workers of their overtime pay.    The 223-193 vote in favor of blocking the rules defied the White House...