Posted on 02/22/2017 10:02:30 AM PST by reaganaut1
A hallmark of the federal bureaucracy under Obama was that it pushed the boundaries of government power at every step, especially when doing so helped groups allied to the Democratic Party.
Labor unions are one of those groups. Even though many individual workers don’t favor the Democrats, the union hierarchy has hitched its fortunes to them. They’re always looking for any advantage that politicians or bureaucrats can give them.
Back in 2014, Big Labor got excited over the possibility of unionizing college football players when the National Labor Relations Board’s regional director in Chicago ruled that members of Northwestern University’s football team were eligible to vote for union representation if they wanted. The key to that ruling was the regional director’s opinion that college football players are “employees” within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act and therefore eligible to unionize.
That was a big stretch of the law, as I wrote at the time. Unlike all other employees, college football players do not have contracts to work for the school as athletes. They’ve been admitted to a college or university as students and can be removed from the team or even fail out of school if their academic work is not good enough. In no other job does a worker’s ability to remain on the job depend on a factor having nothing to do with his or her job performance.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Patriots are reminded that the states have never amended the Constitution to expressly protect labor-type union agendas, the feds therefore having no constitutional authority to foster union growth imo.
college football players are “employees”
I agree. Colleges make a fortune off of these players. College football is a very profitable money-making enterprise. The idea that the university is maintaining a football program as an amateur educational opportunity is laughable. Universities aren’t what they used to be — they are money-making machines, just like corporations. Treat them as such.
So those on academic scholarships are employees too?
College football players should be paid.
However, instead of a weekly paycheck, place an amount of cash in a trust fund for each player to be paid only when they graduate and not paid to players who sign NFL contracts for an amount that is greater than their existing trust fund.
Their talent, and their entertainment value, are assets that exist very briefly.
They have every right to extract as much compensation as possible within that very limited period of time.
Most important - it will upset many alumni, which hopefully means that alumni contributions to America's thousands of Marxist re-education camps will go down.
Why is it stupid? Colleges are making huge sums of money off of 18-22 year olds, and the players are getting basically nothing out of the deal. Other than busted up bodies. What exactly do the players have to lose?
I sort of like this ruling. It’s Progressivism backfiring on the leftist universities. :-)
Agree 100%.
Only the D1 power conferences have quantities of money flowing around, due to booster clubs and sponsors. The mid-majors and smaller schools have far more modest athletic budgets, and have to scrape to survive.
College athletics is not some infinitely deep pool of money available for unions to gobble like hungry hogs.
Students on academic scholarships are allowed to work, students on athletic scholarships cannot.
So long, college football. Nice knowin’ ya.
Don’t they have to be professionals to join a union?
And if they’re professionals they can’t play in the NCAA. Or can they?
I remember someone making that suggestion a few years ago. It sure does beat the farce of giving them scholarships and baby-stepping them through degree programs. The academically qualified? They'd still have that provision to attend the college.
Actually. most college sports programs, to include football, are money losers. I haven’t kept track, but years ago, there were only three money makers. The numbers have increased, but the vast majority, to include many division one schools, don’t make money. At nearly every school, the football coach is the highest paid person on campus. Nearly every state has college teams where the coach makes significantly more than the governor. You can argue both ways on that one.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.