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College Football Players: Student Athletes & Now Union Members?


In a somewhat surprising turn of events, for the first time in the history of college sports, college athletes are asking to be represented by a labor union, taking formal steps on Tuesday to begin the process of being recognized as employees.  Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, filed the petition and union cards signed by an undisclosed number of Northwestern University football players in Chicago today.  In order to represented by a labor union, at least 30 percent of employees (in this case, at least 27 of the 85 scholarship Northwestern University players) need to be in favor of the union to file the document.  Huma did not say specifically how many players signed the cards, only that there was an "overwhelming majority."  The next step is a formal election, which is supervised by the National Labor Relations Board.

Northwestern released a statement and said it supports dialogue around the issues that are important to the union that could potentially represent the football players, and the right of the university's football players to have a voice in that dialogue.  However, Northwestern clarified that it does not support the players organizing through a labor union.

This will be a very interesting issue to keep an eye on.  Over the past few seasons, there has been a growing cry among current and former collegiate sports players for collegiate athletes to be paid. While the Northwestern player's attempts to seek union representation might not be a direct effort to get collegiate athletes paid, it does add fuel to the fire and pushes the issue of whether collegiate athletes are "employees" and therefore entitled to compensation closer to coming to a head. 


Chicago Tribune Article:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/chi-northwestern-football-players-labor-union-20140128,0,182603.story 

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