The question at the heart of the debate remains unanswered.
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Monday, the NLRB decided that no union could be formed, citing mostly the upheaval it would cause in the ranks of college athletics by allowing Northwestern players to form a union while student-athletes at other schools could not. Northwestern administrators and coaches urged players not to unionize, and it’s possible their position prevailed with the players. (How does one organize the labor of people who don’t get paid?) But that question has now been effectively scrapped as the full NLRB has said no to the proposal.
In April 2014, Northwestern requested a review of the initial unionization ruling made by Peter Sung Ohr, regional director of the NLRB in Chicago. Although many labor experts and law professors expected the board to rely on previous cases involving graduate assistants employed at universities, the board ruled that these employees were wholly different from football players and that such precedents did not apply. “It’s kind of definitive at that point, although it depends on what they exactly say”. “We can not appeal it or challenge it further”, Adam said.
Like a microcosm of the institution it was asked to make a decision on, the NLRB’s seven-page explanation was filled with contradicting notions and paradoxes.
“In its ruling, the NLRB recognized [that] the NCAA continually evolves to better support college athletes”, said Donald Remy, NCAA chief legal officer.
The NCAA now prohibits players from earning income beyond their academic scholarships and nominal stipends that cover the cost of college attendance. He declined to go into specifics.
The NLRB’s filing on the Northwest football players’ petition can be viewed in its entirety below.
The idea that a union shop leader would be able to schedule practice breaks or negotiate travel upgrades for Northwestern football players always seemed a bit preposterous.
No. The board said the case applied only to the Northwestern football team. The NLRB said that it can only look at private-sector work places.
Northwestern officials said they were pleased with the decision. The governing body is facing a number of lawsuits regarding athlete compensation – the two highest-profile being an antitrust suit headlined by former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon and another brought by labor lawyer Jeffrey Kessler.
The NCAA, which governs the popular and lucrative world of US university sports, has long held that “student athletes” are not university employees but students whose participation in sports is part of their education.
Even though Northwestern isn’t a major college football powerhouse, the fact that it’s in the Big 10 conference helped the football program post an $8.8 million profit in 2013. Talk of paying athletes has been just that: talk. “The fight for college athletes’ rights”, he told the Tribune, “will continue”.
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As the University has stated previously, Northwestern considers its students who participate in NCAA Division I sports, including those who receive athletic scholarships, to be students, first and foremost.
