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4th Down: The Union That is Backing the Northwestern University Unionization


This is a big week leading up to the vote on Friday, April 25, by the Northwestern University football team on whether or not to form a union.  There will be a special series this week focusing on the events and issues surrounding this case.During the past few weeks, when spring football occurs, the Northwestern University football team has been dealing with more than simply running through the standard practices and scrimmages.  With the vote on whether or not to unionize pending this Friday, the environment surrounding the football program has been different this spring, compared to years past.


The United Steelworkers are one of the prominent labor unions in the country.  As such, they are working to help the Northwestern University football players unionize.  The inevitable question is, regardless of the outcome with Northwestern, what is the next step?

There are approximately seventeen private FBS universities who will be directly impacted by the Northwestern outcome.  Remember, Northwestern is a private school.  As a result, the outcome of this issue at Northwestern will be instructive to student athletes (and university administrators) at these other private universities.  (Jeremey Fowler has a good article at CBS Sports on how this could impact private universaties).

For those FBS universities that are public, however, state labor law would come into play.  As a result, the United Steel Workers have apparently already been in contact with student athletes from public universities around the country about possible attempts to unionize at these public institutions. It goes without saying that the United Steelworkers are doing what they can to push the pro union movement, not just at private universities but also public ones as well.  Time will tell if their efforts are successful, but they are certainly at the forefront of this battle.

Special thanks to Buzzfeed for additional information on the topic: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jacobfischler/union-says-northwestern-is-just-the-beginning-of-organizing 

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