Fifteen Dartmouth men’s basketball players filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to form a union, according to a list of docket activity on the NLRB’s website Thursday. Here’s what you need to know:
- Team managers and supervisors were excluded from the filing, which was issued with the help of the New England-based Local 560 chapter of the Service Employees International Union.
- This isn’t the first effort to form a union of college athletes, but it could be the first successful attempt. In 2015, Northwestern football players pushed to form a union, but their case was eventually dismissed by the NLRB.
- There are also cases pending with the board related to college athletes; a November hearing is scheduled for a case related to the NLRB issuing a complaint against the NCAA, Pac-12 Conference and USC over unfair labor practices.
Backstory
In February, the National College Players Association filed an unfair labor practice charge to the NLRB against the NCAA, Pac-12 and USC as joint employers of FBS football players, men’s basketball players and women’s basketball players. That move was the latest of multiple legal attempts by many to reshape how college athletes can earn compensation for the billions of dollars college sports bring in.
The NCAA has…
