Though 2020 and the pandemic brought massive disruptions to casinos and businesses of all kinds, for the Sycuan Resort & Casino, 2019 was full of major shifts, too. That year, the resort completed a $260 million renovation, and in a development that’s largely flown under the radar, its employees began attempting to form a union.

Since then, the pandemic and a legal battle have slowed down the organizing effort, but it continues and it eventually could have major implications for other tribal casinos and workers. The casino has also hired a well-known consulting firm to persuade workers to keep the union at bay.

The dispute is the latest chapter in a long history of fraught relations between organized labor and tribal casinos in California.