When President Obama signed the PACT (Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act) last week, the Seneca Tribe – which derives an estimated $300 million annually from selling tax-free smokes through the mail – said it would mean the loss of hundreds of jobs, tribal and non-tribal. (See previous post here.)

Now, businesses around the reservation in New York state seem to be bearing that out, as Christopher Michel reports in the Olean Times Herald reports here:

Last week, Synergy Business Management, a Seneca-owned mail-order cigarette business based in Salamanca, filed notice with the New York State Department of Labor it is planning to have companywide layoffs.

“I expect we’ll have to eliminate a significant number of our 130 employees as a result of the P.A.C.T. Act,” Scott Maybee, owner of the company, said.

Michel talks to other, smaller companies that are equally fearful.

The Seneca Free Trade Association, an independent economic development group formed by the Seneca Nation of Indians, says the region supports about 150 Native-owned mail-order cigarette businesses.

“The Western New York economy is going to be devastated by the P.A.C.T. Act,” says Sally Snow, the group’s chairwoman. “… It’s not like 3,000 new jobs are going to come to Western New York anytime soon.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Gwen Florio, Native American news, New York State Department of Labor, PACT Act, President Barack Obama, Prevent All Cigaette Trafficking, Seneca Free Trade Association, Seneca Nation, Synergy Business Management, Tribal cigarette sales, tribal sovereignty