The Work of Sovereignty: Tribal Labor Relations and Self-Determination at the Navajo Nation by David Kamper (review)

In The Work of Sovereignty: Tribal Labor Relations and Self-Determination at the Navajo Nation, David Kamper shines the light on labor unions and their place in Indigenous economic development. Kamper argues, and I agree, that the focus of Indian economic development is too often on enterprise and natural resource development, and the governing systems, economics, and politics that support such endeavors. The United States Census and government reports track labor force data; numbers and analysis on the tribal worker and reservation economic vitality are out there. Less studied are the growing body of tribal policy and labor law, and the advent of tribal entities within Indian government that are specifically created to handle labor issues internally. This is indeed an area ripe with opportunity for active and assertive self-governance. The Navajo Nation has its own labor commission. Just as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws pertaining to discrimination, the Navajo Nation Labor Commission (NNLC) enforces Navajo labor law. The NNLC exercises jurisdiction over claims pertaining to the Navajo Preference in Employment Act (NPEA).

Kamper comes from a labor union background. He was an organizer for the United Auto Workers (UAW) union and knows the passion that drives workers to be active in unions. He believes in the power and pragmatism of forming local units and drawing from the resources and know-how of the national organization. In this book he explores the prospect of union organizing in the milieu of tribal economics, Indian government, and Indigenous politics, and he received a crash course in Navajo sovereignty, Navajo bureaucracy, and tribal office culture. In chapter 4 the author assiduously unravels the spider's web of Diné political history and Navajo labor policy and makes an honorable effort to understand and articulate that which is unique about Navajo grassroots organizing, civic participation, and notions of self-determination. Through it all Kamper remains hopeful that Indian unions will one day secure a strong foothold in tribal labor relations.

One does not always associate the Indigenous worker with labor unions. Typically labor unions are associated with non-Indian manufacturing, trade, and service industry workers who work for large non-Indian corporations. How common is the Indian labor union that is organized, led, and supported by dues-paying Indigenous workers? One familiar union on the Navajo Nation is the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).¹ In the 1980s local units used their collective bargaining power when they banded together to fight for fair wages, benefits, and safe working conditions. They embodied the small but determined "David" who went up against the all-powerful "Goliath," also known as the Peabody Mining Company. The community discourse about jobs and pay was ugly; Navajo strikebreakers crossed picket lines. For them, money to provide for families outweighed the ideology and the cause that union workers vehemently defended. Union loyalists were not afraid to hurl "scab" insults at their coworkers and relations. For some Diné this is the association made with labor unions. Kamper points out that not all unions are alike. A Navajo trade union does not have to be a divisive force in the community. Kamper suggests that unionizing civil servants in the Navajo Nation may actually be a viable strategy for protecting workers' rights in an Indian health-care system.

At the center of The Work of Sovereignty is a case study on the Navajo health-care workers at Tuba City. This study was previewed in a 2005 article Kamper wrote for the Labor Studies Journal titled "Organizing in the Context of Tribal Sovereignty: The Navajo Area Indian Health Service Campaign for Union Recognition." In 2001 the Navajo Nation Council employed its PL 93-638 powers to take over administration of Indian Health Service (IHS) health care on the reservation (106). The council created the Navajo Health Care System Corporation as a freestanding enterprise to oversee Navajo health-care facilities. According to...