Supreme Court denies Wilton Rancheria Sky River appeal
The tribe calls its labour ordinance a matter of authority and says it will pursue other legal avenues.
Key Takeaways
- The US Supreme Court denied Wilton Rancheria’s request to review a labour dispute over Sky River Casino in California, leaving the Ninth Circuit ruling in place.
- The ruling allows Unite Here Local 49 to use signed authorisation cards to seek union recognition.
- The dispute stems from a 2017 agreement under which Unite Here could represent workers if a majority signed cards; the union said it had that support in 2023, a year after the casino opened.
- The tribe argues its labour ordinance requires a formal election, while the union says it followed the agreed process.
- Wilton Rancheria said it will pursue other legal avenues, and a separate district court case means the wider dispute is not over.
U.S.- The US Supreme Court has rejected Wilton Rancheria’s request to review a labour dispute involving Sky River Casino in California. The decision leaves in place a ruling that allows Unite Here Local 49 to use signed authorisation cards to seek union recognition.
The conflict stems from an agreement signed in 2017, when the tribe was seeking approval to develop Sky River Casino. Under that agreement, Unite Here could represent casino workers if a majority signed union authorisation cards. The casino opened in 2022, and the union said it had secured the required support the following year.
Wilton Rancheria has argued that the tribe’s labour ordinance requires a formal election among employees. The union, however, maintains that it followed the process established in the original agreement and that requiring another vote would prolong the dispute and create further opportunities for appeals.
In April, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an arbitrator’s decision allowing the union to use the card-signing process. Wilton Rancheria then asked the Supreme Court to review the case, but the court denied the request on Monday.
A separate case before the US District Court for the Eastern District of California filed by the tribe in August 2025 seeks to overturn the arbitrator’s decision. The union has asked the court to uphold the ruling and allow the process to move forward.
Unite Here Local 49 welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision and called on the tribe to negotiate with workers. “Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has denied Sky River’s petition, the tribe should honour its agreement and bargain a fair contract with workers,” the union said in a statement.
Cammeron Hodson, president of Wilton Rancheria’s gaming authority, described the tribal labour ordinance as a “fair, transparent and lawful” process that the union should follow. “As a sovereign Nation, Wilton Rancheria will always fight to protect and preserve our Tribal Law, governance and sovereignty,” Hodson said, adding that the tribe would pursue other legal avenues after the Supreme Court declined to hear its appeal.
Wilton Rancheria lost federal recognition in 1959 and regained it in 2009. The tribe now has more than 1,000 members, many in the Sacramento region. The Supreme Court’s decision leaves the appeals court ruling in place, but the separate district court case means the dispute is not yet over.
