In a unanimous decision, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) overruled their local chapter’s decision to allow the Northwestern University football team to form a union.
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After the NLRB Chicago office ruled in their favor, the Northwestern football team voted on whether or not they should form a union under the CAPA.
Northwestern officials issued a statement Monday praising the decision.
Monday’s 16-page ruling did not directly address whether athletes are employees of schools, which was part of the basis for a regional NLRB director’s March 2014 ruling that unionization could move forward.
The Board decided that allowing one team to collectively bargain on behalf of an entire sport would not promote stability in the market but would actually lead to changes in the competitive balance of the sport. More starkly, Northwestern is the only private school that is a member of theBig Ten, and thus the Board can not assert jurisdiction over any of Northwestern’s primary competitors. “We applaud our players for bringing national attention to these important issues, but we believe strongly that unionization and collective bargaining are not the appropriate methods to address the concerns raised by student-athletes”.
The College Athletes Players Association, or CAPA, a union headed by former UCLA linebacker Ramogi Huma and financially backed by the United Steelworkers, could appeal the board’s decision in federal courts, but sources say an appeal is unlikely. They did vote, needing a simple majority for approval, though those ballots now will be destroyed without being counted.
The anonymous vote that the Northwestern players took on whether to form a union will remain sealed.
“We can not appeal it or challenge it further”, Adam said. “And I think by what we did, our voice out there really helped get things going forward”.
While NLRB decisions are sometimes split, the three Democrat and two Republican board member all agreed to Monday’s ruling.
Under U.S. law, an employee is regarded as someone who, among other things, receives compensation for a service and is under the direct control of managers.
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That same month the NCAA altered its governance, granting partial autonomy to the five richest conferences. Southeastern Conference schools, for example, will give some athletes $3,000 to $5,500 each on top of a scholarship that pays for tuition, room, board and books. “In addition, every school in the Big Ten, except Northwestern, is a state-run institution”, the NLRB said in a statement announcing their decision. Northwestern administrators and coaches urged players not to unionize, and it’s possible their position prevailed with the players.
