Posted on 09/29/2021 2:49:50 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
College athletes who earn millions for their schools are employees, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer said in guidance released Wednesday that would allow players at private universities to unionize and otherwise negotiate over their working conditions.
NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo also threatened action against schools, conferences and the NCAA if they continue to use the term “student-athlete,” saying that it was created to disguise the employment relationship with college athletes and discourage them from pursuing their rights.
“The freedom to engage in far-reaching and lucrative business enterprises makes players at academic institutions much more similar to professional athletes who are employed by a team to play a sport,” Abruzzo wrote.
Abruzzo’s memo does not immediately alter the dynamic between the schools and their athletes, who can receive scholarships and limited cost of attendance funding in exchange for playing sports. Instead, it is legal advice for the NLRB should a case arise.
That could be triggered by an effort by a team to unionize, a claim of an unfair labor practice or even by a school continuing to refer to a player as a “student-athlete,” Abruzzo said in an interview with The Associated Press.
“It just perpetuates this notion that players at academic institutions are not workers that have statutory protection,” she said. “It is chilling workers’ rights to engage with one another to improve their terms and conditions of employment.”
Neither the NCAA, the nation’s largest governing body with oversight of some 450,000 athletes, nor representatives for the Power Five conferences responded to a request for comment from the AP.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
No, they are not.
Employees? That would make them professionals.
I will repeat my prediction. Big time college sports are doomed. Unionization will be the death knell. They will be labor strikes, elimination of eligibility rules like the minimum number of credits per semester or limits on the number of years for participation, etc.
No one wants to watch minor league franchises masquerading as student athletes.
Yet they take the physical risks, and the schedule and focus demands are such that being a full-time student in a difficult program is near-impossible.
I say: PAY THE KIDS. Let them take a reduced class load while playing, and then give them an additional 2 years of free college when their playing days are over, so they can learn and earn a real degree.
But... that's EXACTLY what they presently are!
And the ratings show that LOTS of people want to watch this!
Make no mistake. This is a stealth move to destroy college sports. Wimpy liberal soy-boys and their smelly fat girlfriends HATE athletes.
Is the same 🐂 💩 that allowed graduate students to unionize?
If they are employees, drop the requirement that they be students. For many players that’s a sham already.
Then Biden/Harris Pelosie/Schumer et al can tax the hell out of the earnings?
“No one wants to watch minor league franchises masquerading as student athletes.”
They kind of already are, aren’t they? I don’t disagree, but the reality is that these kids are generating billions and the schools athletic programs are little more than farm teams for the NFL. Regardless of what they call them.
So what about players at the high school level? And would child labor laws affect younger athletes? Girls gymnastics, cheerleaders? Where will the NLRB draw the line?
The kids are getting breaks on tuition.
You knew that right?
They certainly are not students
“College athletes who earn millions for their schools are employees...”
So, how about the others, the ones with rugby, golf, rodeo scholarships and the like?
Yes, breaks on tuition while they're working an intense professional level job.
A job that requires regular travel across the country.
A job that - in all reality - prohibits them from entering an actual demanding college degree program, one that actually JUSTIFIES a college degree.
We can see from decade upon decade of case evidence just how sorry the "student" side of "student-athlete" is. It's time to fix that, by embracing the reality of college football.
Lose the fakery. They are either students or they are paid athletic entertainers ... minor leaguers, but professionals.
I don’t disagree, but this is a classic slippery slope. Who exactly are employees? Crew? Women’s racquetball? All student athletes? Just the football and basketball stars? What about the bench warmers? Is there a limiting principle? Who is the employer - Nike or the College? Who pays the Workmans Comp for these employees - again, Nike or the College?
Non-revenue athletes won’t stand for this. This is a first rate Cluster Blank.
LOL
Who forced them into this situation?
There are kids working feverishly across this nation to get
into these programs.
Yeah, they travel across the country often as a result of
these programs, FREE. Their expenses for airlines, buses,
hotel rooms, dining, and other transportation, ALL FREE.
It’s an exciting adventure for them, and a real let-down
when other kids fail to make it.
Wow, what a terrible life...
Be sure and fix it folks.
Sounds like a Leftist. Hey, I’m her from the do-gooder
society to fix what isn’t broken.
As someone who loved college football as a student and an alumnus, I hate to say it... but, yes, they are employees. Their labor is providing a revenue-generating service to the university. It’s similar to the student employees at the campus bookstore or cafeteria, only on a much grander scale. Now, an argument could be made that the “student-athlete” receives non-employee compensation in the form of tuition waivers as well as a pathway to potentially lucrative pro career. A counter-argument would be that (1) the overwhelming portion of athletes in big-time college football (and basketball) programs benefit minimally from an education that is at best an afterthought to their sport; and (2) very few of them will go on to lucrative pro careers.
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