Jackson King, who is general counsel to the Mashantuckets, says the tribe wanted to find a creative solution to that standoff. Tribes everywhere saw this as a huge erosion of sovereignty. The ruling said that federal labor laws did apply to American Indian gaming operations because they employ a large number of non-American Indians. But that changed in 2007 when a federal court ruled against the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians from California. Officially recognized American Indian tribes are sovereign nations, not subject to many federal laws including, for 30 years, the National Labor Relations Act. But when the dealers tried to negotiate with their employer, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, it would have none of it. Unions have set their sights on the casino industry in general, and the UAW has had some luck organizing in non-tribal gaming operations. So in 2007, a majority of the 2,500 table game dealers at Foxwoods' two casinos took a vote. 'It just made a lot of us upset and angry that we were losing these good benefits that we had when the company was still making money,' Gladue says.

With the start of the recession more than two years ago, casinos across the country were struggling, and so were their employees.

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