Fight to unionize college athletes moving to states

Published 8:30 am Tuesday, October 6, 2015

INDIANAPOLIS – A struggle over whether college athletes should be allowed to unionize may shift to state courts and capitols.

Leaders of a movement to organize student-athletes predict their focus will turn to public colleges and universities that are subject to state collective bargaining laws.

“That’s what’s coming in our vision,” said Ramogi Huma, founder of the College Athletes Players Association.

Huma called the NCAA “financially rich but morally bankrupt” on Monday, after speaking to union leaders gathered in Indianapolis, where the NCAA is headquartered.

Joining him was Kain Colter, the former Northwestern University quarterback who in 2014 joined several team members in claiming they were employees of the university and had the right to unionize

Though a regional branch of the National Labor Relations Board sided with the players, the full board unanimously voted in August that it would not assert its jurisdiction in the matter, effectively ending their petition.

The NCAA hailed the ruling and issued a statement citing the potential for “instability to college sports” had the union petition been allowed.

But the decision wasn’t a clean victory for the NCAA. It only covered private universities, such as Northwestern. And the labor board sidestepped the question of whether student athletes are governed enough by their schools to be considered employees.

That leaves open the door for athletes at state colleges and universities to argue that they’re public employees entitled to collective bargaining rights.

“The public thinks the NLRB ruled against us, but that’s just wrong,” Colter said.

Colter said he isn’t looking for players to be paid, though some believe they should.

Instead, he wants players to negotiate for benefits such as guaranteed health coverage if they’re injured, or guaranteed scholarships to finish their degrees, he said.

Billions of dollars generated by college athletes in lucrative sports programs, now divvied among the schools and the NCAA, could more than pay for those protections, he said.

Huma and Colter told members of the Indiana AFL-CIO that they’re continuing to look for legal and legislative ways to allow college athletes to negotiate as employees with their schools. The two are supported financially in their efforts by the United Steelworkers.

The pair declined to say if they’ve targeted a specific university for the next stage of their campaign.

But a court victory in states that are sympathetic to public employees could have a multiplier effect, they said.

Indiana isn’t likely to be on the list. In 2005, then Gov. Mitch Daniels eliminated bargaining for state employees by executive order.

Other legislatures have already started moved to preempt the organizing effort. In late December, Michigan’s Republican governor signed a law that excludes college athletes from the definition of ‘public employee.’ In April, Ohio lawmakers moved to ban college athletes from forming unions.

In Connecticut, meanwhile, legislators have debated whether to allow athletes at public universities to join unions if money generated by a sports program exceeds the value of scholarships that it awards.

Huma said he expects to gain traction in states with laws that are more favorable to unions, then build a “critical mass” forcing others to fall in line.

“They’re going to have to make a decision as to whether they change the law in their states. They’re really going to have to consider what they’re going to do when their state doesn’t have an outlet for players to have legally binding protections,” he said.

Huma said he was inspired to advocate for college athletes after seeing a UCLA Bruins teammate, Donnie Edwards, suspended by the NCAA for accepting a bag of groceries in 1995.

For Colter, the urge came in a class at Northwestern called the “The History of the Modern Worker,” which chronicled the U.S. labor movement.

It got him thinking, he said, about the billions of dollars that the NCAA makes from broadcast contracts but its failure to require universities to pay for all of their athletes’ sports-related medical expenses

Colter said his decision to organize a union while still playing football for Northwestern proved difficult, but he’s glad he did it.

“It is our responsibility as Americans and as human beings to try and right things that are not only wrong but also jeopardize the health and well-being of our fellow brothers and sisters,” he said.

Maureen Hayden covers the Indiana Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at mhayden@cnhi.com