- Dartmouth's men's basketball team became the first college athletes to vote to unionize.
- The vote could spur unionization efforts in college sports for years to come.
- But the path for college athletes to become union officials can be fraught with challenges and complexities.
On March 5th, the Dartmouth men's basketball team won. Harvard won 76-69. But earlier in the day, Dartmouth's team had perhaps the more important victory.
By a 13-2 vote, the team voted to join the Service Employees Union SEIU Local 560, becoming the first college athletes in U.S. history to vote to join a union.
The National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency, oversaw the election. In September, the Dartmouth team filed a petition to unionize with the NLRB. And last month, the NLRB ruled that Dartmouth players are employees of the school, paving the way for a unionization vote. The NLRB rejected a request from the Dartmouth administration to postpone the vote.
But more hurdles remain in the players' path to forming a union. The Dartmouth administration has appealed the NLRB's decision to classify the players as employees, the first step in a legal battle that could last years and ultimately reach the Supreme Court. be.
This landmark vote is another example of the rapidly changing landscape of college sports. In 2021, athletes were given the right to earn money from their name, image and likeness, laying the foundation for her NIL market, currently estimated at $1 billion.
The vote in Dartmouth also came as the percentage of union members in the United States reached an all-time low. By 2023, it will be only 10%. However, that same year, the number of workers participating in strikes more than doubled from the previous year, led by work stoppages at the UAW, Hollywood, and Kaiser Permanente. Additionally, in recent years, union activities have become more active on university campuses among undergraduate and graduate students.
Particularly in college sports, there are growing calls for athletes to receive greater financial compensation and be recognized as employees. But while other teams may want to follow in Dartmouth's footsteps, they face difficulties due to the NLRB's limited jurisdiction, the changing political climate, and the realities of adding personnel to the school's payroll. there's a possibility that.
Business Insider asked four union experts what recent developments mean for the short- and long-term future of college athletics.
Athletes seeking to unionize in college sports may face many obstacles.
Victor Chen, an associate professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University, told Business Insider in an email that the Dartmouth vote could ultimately be the start of a wave of organizing efforts across college sports. Told.
“It's like the genie is out of the bottle,” he said. “It may take time, but I think unionization in college sports is inevitable. This industry is so big and there’s so much money at stake that people don’t want to buy everything. We can't follow the fiction of winning athletes.'' He could just be a student. ”
Chen hopes that with more widespread union efforts, unionized players will receive financial compensation and have a greater say in their working conditions.
Jake Rosenfeld, a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, told BI in an email that if athletes across the country felt the same way Dartmouth's players did, unionization efforts would be “contagious” and “the university This could lead to “substantive changes in the way athletes are treated.” . ”
But in the short term, the impact of Dartmouth's vote could be limited.
An appeal by the Dartmouth administration could drag out the process for years, and there is no guarantee that athletes across the country will come together quickly to accept unionization. The NCAA may continue to push Congress to pass legislation that would prevent athletes from holding employee positions.
Political factors could also derail momentum.
“A Trump administration, or any Republican administration, would immediately reverse this decision and create a completely different NLRB,” Rosenfeld said.
If the NLRB's decision to approve Dartmouth's players stands, it could set a precedent that could allow other teams to follow suit. But because the NLRB only has jurisdiction over private universities, athletes at public universities will have to face additional hurdles before unionizing.
“The transition will be a difficult one because some players will be organized and others will not, creating new inequalities and confusion,” VCU's Chen said.
The NLRB's jurisdiction was applied in 2015 to block an attempt by the Northwestern football team to unionize. Although Northwestern is a private university, its membership in the Big Ten Conference, which is made up of mostly public institutions, was a key reason for this decision. The NLRB said having a mix of union and non-union teams in the conference could lead to competitive imbalances, the Associated Press reported.
But today, a union push like Northwestern's may have a better chance of success. Players at the University of Southern California, a private school aiming to join the Big Ten, are waiting for a court to decide whether they should be classified as employees.
The NLRB's Los Angeles office maintained that all college athletes, including those at public universities, are employees of the NCAA and its member conferences, which are private institutions. Under this interpretation, the NLRB would have jurisdiction over all college athletes, which could create an avenue for widespread unionization, USA Today reported.
How can schools pay all new employees?
Many have expressed concerns about how schools can afford to compensate athletes if they are considered employees, especially those who play sports that don't earn as much. .
Matthew Johnson, assistant professor of public policy and economics at Duke University, said higher pay for unionized teams could put a financial burden on some schools, but unions should be strategic about their demands. “That's likely,” he told Business Insider via email.
“I would be really surprised if unionized athletes in non-revenue sports tried to demand unreasonably high salaries that would force universities to shut down their teams,” he said.
Even if forming a union doesn't lead to significant income for most athletes, it can bring other benefits, such as the ability to negotiate changes in practice time and travel.
“Having a union is not just about money,” Johnson said. “It is also about ensuring that players have a say in shaping the conditions in which they operate.”
But unionizing can create other complications. Can schools fire new employees? Will athletes go on strike? If a male athlete earned a higher salary than a female athlete, would this be inconsistent with Title IX?
Barry Eidlin, an associate professor of sociology at McGill University in Montreal, told BI via email that any growing pains are probably worth it.
“American college sports have been in an unsustainable situation for decades,” he said, adding, “Dartmouth athletes are taking the first steps toward reversing that problem.”
Are you a college athlete making money with a NIL deal and would you like to discuss your salary in detail? If so, please contact this reporter. jzikula@insider.com.
