Dartmouth Players Win NLRB Election
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I guess I’m surprised that college athletics unions are starting at a school such as Dartmouth, largely because I tend to see Ivy League kids as those with a foot in the financial and elite worlds already and thus less likely to support something like unions. That may be more stereotype than reality. But the team’s basketball players have voted 13-2 to join SEIU 560.
Hours before their final game of the season, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team has voted to join a union, becoming the first unionized college sports team in the U.S. and opening many thorny questions about the future of college sports.
Led by Dartmouth forward Cade Haskins and guard Romeo Myrthil, the 15 players announced their intent to unionize last September, arguing that the business of college sports is different that it was a few years ago. Tuesday’s vote was 13 to 2 in favor of joining SEIU Local 560.
“Today is a big day for our team. We stuck together all season and won this election,” wrote Haskins and Myrthil in a statement. “Let’s work together to create a less exploitative business model for college sports.”
The election was held over the objections of the Trustees of Dartmouth College, which last week filed a motion asking the National Labor Relations Board to halt the election pending further review. The NLRB denied that request.
On Tuesday, Dartmouth asked the NLRB to overturn the decision by the agency’s regional director to hold the election in the first place, setting the stage for a protracted legal fight.
Of course Dartmouth administration is horrified. That’s despite the fact that even pretty conservative people in the world of college athletics are calling for athlete unions to regulate the wild west of the NIL era. I also wonder here about the two players who voted no. Maybe they worked that out in terms of the team solidarity. And of course these teams have massive turnover every year so I wonder about the people coming onto the team next year. But in any case, this is a small but important frontier in the American labor movement’s history.