{"id":463,"date":"2014-01-31T21:21:08","date_gmt":"2014-01-31T21:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/college-football-players-seek-union-representation\/"},"modified":"2014-01-31T21:21:08","modified_gmt":"2014-01-31T21:21:08","slug":"college-football-players-seek-union-representation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/college-football-players-seek-union-representation\/","title":{"rendered":"College Football Players Seek Union Representation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of Northwestern University football players, led by quarterback Kain Colter, are seeking to be represented by a labor union.\u00a0 The players took the first step to begin the process by filing a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (\u201cNLRB\u201d).\u00a0 This is a historic event, as this is the first time in college athletics that students are seeking to unionize.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to ESPN\u2019s \u201cOutside the Lines,\u201d quarterback Kain Colter initiated interest in union representation last spring. \u00a0He was motivated to improve the conditions under which athletes play NCAA sports. \u00a0Since that time, Colter worked with other athletes and sought the assistance of Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association (\u201cNCPA\u201d).\u00a0 Their collective efforts culminated in the NCPA\u2019s submission of the petition to the NLRB regional office in Chicago.\u00a0 A pre-election hearing is scheduled for February 7.\u00a0 Under the NLRB process, the labor board will next determine whether there is a sufficient and valid showing of interest and whether an election should be held.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0News reports state that the Northwestern players have no gripes against Northwestern, but they feel mistreated by the NCAA.\u00a0 The athletes believe that the NCAA is too powerful.\u00a0 While the students help generate lots of money for the schools, many are unable to pay for basic necessities, many fear losing their scholarships, and many do not believe that they are given a real opportunity to be students.\u00a0 The students believe that improvements will only happen through a union.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are limits and challenges to the students\u2019 efforts to unionize.\u00a0 Foremost, the National Labor Relations Act (\u201cNLRA\u201d) only applies to private-sector employees. \u00a0Therefore, students at state schools such as Georgia and The Ohio State University would not be able to unionize.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most importantly, however, the NLRA only allows representation of employees<\/em>\u2014not students.\u00a0 Therefore, to prevail in their petition, the student athletes must persuade the NLRB that they are employees<\/em>. \u00a0This will be a hard challenge to tackle.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the athletes are successful, the impact would be a game-changing event in the broadest sense.\u00a0 For example, if the student athletes are considered employees, they would be subject to the federal and state wage and hour laws.\u00a0 Compliance with these laws in an athletic setting would be a compliance nightmare for universities.\u00a0 Further. as employees, students would (or should) be subject to discipline up to and including termination of employment.\u00a0 How this would impact recruiting, scholarships and other issues remains unknown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Applying everyday employment situations to the world of college sports raises some interesting questions, possibilities, and future story lines:<\/span><\/p>\n