Chicago college football players want to be unionized
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 10:58 am
First unions destroyed the city, now they're going after football.
For the first time in the history of college sports, athletes are asking to be represented by a labor union, taking formal steps on Tuesday to begin the process of being recognized as employees, ESPN's "Outside The Lines" has learned.
Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, filed a petition in Chicago on behalf of football players at Northwestern University, submitting the form at the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board.
Backed by the United Steelworkers union, Huma also filed union cards signed by an undisclosed number of Northwestern players with the NLRB -- the federal statutory body that recognizes groups that seek collective bargaining rights.
The group held a news conference Tuesday afternoon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Chicago, where Colter, Huma, Gerard and Tim Waters, the union's national political director as well as the NCPA's liaison within the union, were in attendance.
Having already successfully advocated for the creation of multiyear scholarships, it now would like those scholarships to be guaranteed even if a player is no longer able to continue or is benched. The group has also called for a trust fund that players could tap into after their NCAA eligibility expires to finish schooling or be rewarded for finishing schooling. Coaches would no longer have "sole" authority over who gets to play and who doesn't, union representatives would make those decisions in consultation with coaches and the players.