"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Council Sustains Veto of Minimum Wage Act

TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA – The Cherokee Nation will not institute an immediate $8-an-hour minimum wage for CN government and corporate employees following the Tribal Council’s failure to override Principal Chief Chad Smith’s veto at its October 16 meeting.

In a 10-7 vote, the council fell two votes short of the two-thirds majority needed. Councilors who voted to sustain the veto were Buel Anglen, Jack Baker, Don Garvin, Bill Johnson, Jackie Bob Martin, Cara Cowan Watts and Meredith Frailey. Frailey was one of the 11 councilors who approved the wage increase at the Sept. 11 council meeting, and all 17 councilors sponsored the act when it passed through the Rules Committee prior to Sept. 11.

The act would have established a minimum hourly wage of $8 for all eligible CN, Cherokee Nation Enterprises, Cherokee Nation Industries and Cherokee Nation Businesses employees who make less than that amount.

Smith vetoed the act Sept. 19 stating he supports an increased minimum wage but one that is implemented over time. Smith wrote that businesses such as CNI could be negatively impacted because it competes for government contracts and that labor costs are a significant factor in the process. He added that true costs of the act were unknown and had not been sufficiently studied nor had it been provided for in the 2007 budget.

The chief also cited “wage compression” as a reason for the veto.

“There are 152 employees at the Nation making less than $8 per hour currently, who would directly benefit from this act,” he wrote. “However, there are another 366 employees making from $8 to $10 an hour that would be negatively impacted, by effectively returning them to an ‘entry level’ again even though they have more experience, skills and training …. We should do what most governments do and phase the increase in over time so that we know the full impact of the increase and that people can be treated fairly.”

But an increased minimum wage could still come within the 2007 budget cycle, council attorney Todd Hembree said. Hembree said Councilors Taylor Keen and Jack Baker would sponsor legislation at the Oct. 26 Rules Committee meeting that would be a compromise between a gradual and immediate wage increase.

“I believe that the current wage rate is a call to the Cherokee Nation to increase our minimum wage,” he said. “The Cherokee Nation considers itself the preeminent tribe in the state, and we intend to treat our employees in that manner.”