(a)
The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe has enacted and implemented this Labor Organizations and Collective Bargaining Law pursuant to its inherent sovereign authority.
(b)
In providing for procedures, rights, and remedies for employers, employees, and labor organizations under this Law, including those afforded through actions in the Community Court, the Tribal Council has carefully considered (and continues to consider) the values and interests of the Tribe in order to establish fair processes, rights, and remedies for the parties and interests at stake. This has included careful consideration of, amongst other things, (A) the time, costs, and inconvenience of parties and witnesses involved in proceedings to resolve controversies or to establish rights and remedies under this Law; (B) the need to protect the governmental operations of the Tribe from undue burdens from litigation, while according fair treatment to employees within those operations; and (C) methods to resolve disputes through early settlement, including mediation.
(c)
The integrity of this Law is threatened if parties bypass the procedures, rights, and remedies established herein and seek, instead, to invoke procedures or remedies outside of this Law for controversies that this Law is designed to address and resolve in accordance with the unique public policies of the Tribe. Investigations or proceedings directed at employers, apart from those provided for by this Law, which seek to address controversies or rights covered by this Law, require the expenditure of time and resources to the detriment of those involved and, in many instances, to the governmental operations of the Tribe. Such investigations or proceedings also threaten duplicative witness testimony and production of documents already available, or undertaken, pursuant to the provisions of this Law.
(Res. 11-A-015, 3/8/2011)