It may not be football season, but the Northwestern University Wildcats scored an important victory Wednesday in their drive toward scoring full union recognition for players. The Chicago office of the National Labor Relations Board issued a ruling that says a group of 85 Northwestern players who receive scholarships from the university can vote to form a union.
The unprecedented ruling, which the university has said it will appeal to the full labor board in Washington, D.C., is a major step for the players and their union advocate, the United Steelworkers. The ruling stated that the student athletes with football scholarships are, in fact, employees under the National Labor Relations Act and are therefore entitled to hold a union election and bargain collectively. It’s a conclusion that could reverberate to other schools and exacerbate festering legal problems in college sports.
