Northwestern Football Players Won't Be Getting Their Union For Now

The National Labor Relations Board announced Monday that it would not wade into the case of Northwestern football players who were seeking to unionize, meaning college football will remain union-free, at least for the time being.

In a statement, the five-member board in Washington said it did not feel it had jurisdiction in the case. Asserting such powers, the agency said, would not "promote stability in labor relations," as the board is tasked with doing.

The Northwestern players do have the option of taking their case to federal court, but they would face long odds in trying to have the board's decision overturned.

"For now, it seems the idea that these young men will be able to organize themselves into a union is not on the horizon," said Robert McCormick, a former labor attorney at Michigan State University. "For the time being, it does seem to be the end of the line."

In setting the case aside, the board declined to take on its thorniest question -- whether or not scholarship athletes are controlled enough by their schools to be considered employees and not just student-athletes.

One of the main reasons the board declined to assert jurisdiction is the makeup of NCAA football. Many of the colleges with scholarship athletes are state schools and not private like Northwestern. That means players at those schools would be subject to state collective bargaining laws. But recognizing Northwestern players as employees, the board said, could rock all of college football.

"Asserting jurisdiction over the single team in this case would likely have ramifications for those other member teams," the agency said.

Even if the players won't be unionizing under federal law anytime soon, that doesn't mean the organizing campaign is scuttled, said Fred Feinstein, a former general counsel for the NLRB. Players at state schools could still try to be recognized as union members under state law, he noted.

"If they make inroads in one state, it's conceivable others would follow," he said.

Feinstein also noted that they could bargain collectively outside the framework of labor law to have their grievances addressed, much like fast food workers have been doing.

"They can still organize, and they can still try to figure out the kinds of influence and leverage they might have to address some of the concerns that led them to file this petition in the first place," he said.

The Northwestern players filed their precedent-setting union election petition in January 2014 and cast their votes in April of the same year. Those ballots were impounded pending an appeal by the school, but the results of that election would now be moot.

In a statement, Northwestern officials said they were "pleased" by the board's decision not to assert jurisdiction.

"Northwestern considers its students who participate in NCAA Division I sports, including those who receive athletic scholarships, to be students, first and foremost," the school said. "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."

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from Chicago - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1fl8JZ5
via IFTTT