Union of college athletes

[Pghdukie]

1 year ago today, Northwestern's football players won a court ruling to form the 1st union of all college athletes. I haven't heard much since and was wondering if any action was in the works. It would certainly be a tragic time for 16 teams to band together and make their stand.

[uh_no]

1 year ago today, Northwestern's football players won a court ruling to form the 1st union of all college athletes. I haven't heard much since and was wondering if any action was in the works. It would certainly be a tragic time for 16 teams to band together and make their stand.

the team voted to not form a union.

[Gargoyle]

NLRB rules that Northwestern football players cannot unionize.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-17/northwestern-football-players-cannot-form-a-union-nlrb-rules

[luburch]

NLRB rules that Northwestern football players cannot unionize.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-17/northwestern-football-players-cannot-form-a-union-nlrb-rules

Is that what they ruled?

The way I understood it was that the NLRB simply said they didn't feel they had the jurisdiction to make a ruling and dismissed the case.

EDIT: Nevermind - They ruled they couldn't form a union. What they didn't rule on was if the players are actually employees. I believe.

[swood1000]

Is that what they ruled?

The way I understood it was that the NLRB simply said they didn't feel they had the jurisdiction to make a ruling and dismissed the case.

EDIT: Nevermind - They ruled they couldn't form a union. What they didn't rule on was if the players are actually employees. I believe.
It looks like the NLRB only has jurisdiction over private schools, and they didn't want to make a ruling that wouldn't affect all schools. Looks like they'll be willing to take another look at it if the public school students are given such rights.


The board cited the unique nature of college sports in saying it would foster instability to permit Northwestern football players to form a union while players elsewhere in the National Collegiate Athletic Association are not.

"Our decision is primarily premised on a finding that because of the nature of sports leagues...it would not promote stability in labor relations to assert jurisdiction in this case," the decision said. …

The NLRB only has jurisdiction over private schools, while state labor boards oversee public institutions.