College Athletes Need A Voice

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For decades, student athletes have always been referred to as students, not employees. The current system now gives student athletes scholarships to pay for their education in return for hours practicing and competing for their institution. However, a movement stimulated by the Northwestern Football program was made at the beginning of this year to change this policy. The Northwestern Football Program wants college athletes to be represented by a labor union and to be labeled as employees.
To begin with, the Northwestern football players initiated the petition for all athletes to be able to unionize. Their goal is to be recognized as school employees, which would alter the economic and power dynamics for all college athletics. This undertaking began when a group of Northwestern football players led by former quarterback Kain Colter submitted signed union cards and a petition to be represented by a labor union to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal organization that recognizes groups that seek collective bargaining rights (Farrey, 2014).
The reasoning behind forming a union was that athletes generate money for universities through labor that school executive’s control. Playing sports is not a prerequisite for a successful academic degree, but it can be a hindrance to earning a degree. Furthermore, labor law tests suggest that student athletes are actually employees and there play is considered work (Hruby, 2014). “The National Labor Relations Board ruled that Northwestern football players are employees of the university and legally able to organize despite claims from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) that athletes are students first” (Becker, 2014). This ruling meant the athletes would be tre...

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...ieved May 26, 2014, from http://therotation.sportsonearthblog.com/can-college-athletes-unionize/
Kirk, J. (2014, January 28). No, college football players aren't unionizing for pay-for-play - SBNation.com. Retrieved May 26, 2014, from http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2014/1/28/5354718/college-football-players-union-pay-for-play
NCAA How Do Athletics Scholarships Work? NCAA Public Home Page - NCAA.org. (n.d.). Retrieved May 28, 2014, from http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/how-do-athletics-scholarships-work
NCPA Mission & Goals. (n.d.). Retrieved May 26, 2014, from http://www.ncpanow.org/about/mission-goals
Strauss, B., & Eder, S. (2014, March 26). The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/sports/ncaafootball/national-labor-relations-board-rules-northwestern-players-are-employees-and-can-unionize.html?_r=0

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