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Outline

I. Introduction

II. NCAA’s Big 10 Conference History

A. Who are they?

B. When did they start?

III. Definition Understanding

A. Labor Union by John Budd

B. Collective Bargaining by John Budd

C. Employee by Section 2(3) of NLRA

IV. NLRB Case: Northwestern University v. College Athletes Players

Association (CAPA)

A. Who/What is CAPA?

B. Northwestern University

C. Main points of the case

D. Decision

V. Where are they all now?

A. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

B. Northwestern University

C. Football Student-Athletes

VI. References

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Northwestern Football Student-Athlete Unionize Analysis

Introduction

Should college football athletes unionize? Is unionizing bad for football? What

can unionizing change for football players? These are just a few of the questions that

some of my avid college football fans asked after reading Brian Bennett’s ESPN article,

‘Northwestern players get union vote’. There are a lot of people out there that do not

understand the purpose of unions and why student football players need to unionize.

This paper will explain some history of the Big 10 Conference, a few definitions of much

needed understanding, and the Northwestern University v. College Athletes Players

Association (CAPA) case as well as some effects of the case.

NCAA’s Big 10 Conference History

The NCAA Big 10 Conference started at the beginning of the New Year in 1895

when leaders from six well-known universities, University of Chicago, University of

Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, and

University of Wisconsin, came together with the main mission to organize and develop

principles for the regulation of intercollegiate athletics (Big Ten History, 2015). In the

beginning, it was named the Intercollegiate Conference Athletic Association. The media

started to call it the “Big Ten (10)” in the early 1900’s but did not officially adopt the

name until 1987. For decades, the conference held its 10 university membership.

However, that changed in late 1989.

Pennsylvania State University, or

Penn State, became the Big 10’s

eleventh member on June 4, 1990.

The conference has slowly grown to

14 universities including Rutgers

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University, Maryland University, University of Nebraska, and University of Chicago,

which is better known for being one of the top research facilities in the nation.

The Big 10 officially sponsors 28 conference sports for men and women and

administers about $200 million in direct financial aid to almost 10,000 student-athletes

competing in intercollegiate athletics on 350 teams in 42 different sports (male and

female). Through the Big 10’s media agreements with Big Ten Network (BTN),

ABC/ESPN, CBS, and FOX, nearly 1,400 of its events are produced and distributed

nationally as well as globally, annually. BTN was announced in 2006 as the first

conference-owned television network in a 20-year agreement with FOX Networks.

Definition Understanding

In order to understand the basis of the National Labor Relations Board’s

Northwestern University v. College Athletes Players Association (CAPA) case, we will go

over a few very important terms, such as labor union, collective bargaining, and

employee. As per John Budd, a labor

union is a group of workers who join

together to influence the nature of

their employment (2013, pg. 4). In

other words, a labor union is able to

work for that group of workers as so

an individual worker does not feel over

powered by management and able to

voice his/her collective concerns in

order to enhance, not just the

business but their personal lives as well. Which brings us to the term of collective

bargaining. Collective bargaining lets representatives of the employer and the employee

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negotiate the terms and conditions of

employment that will apply to the

employees (Budd, 2013, pg. 11).

Collective bargaining allows workers

and employers to reach a voluntary

agreement on a wide range of topics,

such as compensation, off days,

benefits, and even grievance

practices. These processes are called

“collective” because the opinion and well-being of the whole group (employees and

employers), or collective, is involved.

Lastly, as for the term of employee, described by Section 2(3) the National Labor

Relations Act (NLRA), an employee:

“include[s] any employee, and shall not be limited to the employees of a

particular employer, unless the Act explicitly states otherwise, and shall include

any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection

with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice, and who

has not obtained any other regular and substantially equivalent employment, but

shall not include any individual employed as an agricultural laborer, or in the

domestic service of any family or person at his home, or any individual employed

by his parent or spouse, or any individual having the status of an independent

contractor, or any individual employed as a supervisor, or any individual

employed by an employer subject to the Railway Labor Act, as amended from

time to time, or by any other person who is not an employer as herein defined”

(Budd, 2013, pg. 494-95).

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Now, the Railway Labor Act of 1926 is a federal statute recognizing the right of collective

bargaining in the railroad and airline industries (Budd, 2013, pg. 117). Otherwise, the

broad definition of an employee is that any and all persons laboring or have labored for

a company, basically.

Northwestern University v. College Athletes Players Association (CAPA)

Northwestern University v. College Athletes Players Association (CAPA) is a

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) case. Former Northwestern quarterback Kain

Colter saw an injustice amongst his fellow football brothers. He enlisted the help of

CAPA along with the United Steelworkers union to change the way football student-

athletes are dealt with, seen, and used in National Collegiate Athletic Association

(NCAA) sports.

CAPA is a labor organization established to assert student-athletes’ status as

employees with the right to collectively bargain for basic securities. It was co-founded

by Ramogi Huma and Kain Colter in the early part of 2014 (Bennett, 2014).

Northwestern is a private university in Evansville, Illinois (Northwestern v. CAPA,

2014, pg. 4). It is one of the original universities to become a member of the Big 10

Conference back in 1895 (Big Ten History, 2015). So, Northwestern has a strong

academic and athletic presence in the higher educational arena for well over 160 years.

In its representation of Northwestern’s football student-athletes, CAPA saw to

show that the football players should be known as employees of Northwestern, which in

turn would give them the right to unionize and collectively bargain for improved health

and safety, financial support, and other terms and conditions of employment

relationship with Northwestern, the Big 10 Conference, and the NCAA (Northwestern v.

CAPA, 2014, pg. 3).

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Mr. Colter states that football is a “year-round gig” at Northwestern

(Northwestern v. CAPA, 2014, pg. 5). Football players are not allowed to take classes

that interfere with practices, games, or any other scheduled activities. Mr. Colter also

says, “[players must] fulfill the football requirement and, if you can, you fit in

academics” (Bennett, 2014). The Players receive no academic credit for any of their

football program activities (Northwestern v. CAPA, 2014, pg. 35). Whatever the case

may be, Northwestern administrators are very adamant that their players are students

first and foremost. Northwestern has one of the highest graduation rates for college

football players in the nation at around 97 percent (Bennett, 2014). If a player misses

any of those scheduled events, his scholarship may be taken from him.

An athletic scholarship can equal a little over $61,000 per year, which covers

tuition, fees, room, board, and books (Northwestern v. CAPA, 2014, pg. 22). Players also

receive a cash stipend of about $14,000 for meals. Athletes are allowed to receive an

athletic scholarship as well as federal Pell Grants that exceed the full cost of attendance

(COA) totaling $61,193 for academic year 2013-14, as where non-athletes are not

permitted to do so. CAPA attorneys argued that college football is a commercial

enterprise that relies on players’ labor to generate billions of dollars in revenues, which

in turn makes the relationship of schools to players one of employers to employees

(Bennett, 2014).

NLRB regional director Peter Ohr notated in his decision that “the extensive and

undisputed record shows that Northwestern scholarship football players are

“employees” within the meaning of Section 2(3) of the NLRA” (Northwestern v. CAPA,

2014, pg. 55). Mr. Colter said that this decision is “an opportunity to make things right

and stick up for future generations and makeup for the wrongs of past generations”

(Bennett, 2014). Northwestern, the Big 10 Conference, and the NCAA all strongly

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disagreed with Director Ohr citing it would hurt college sports in numerous ways, such

as lockouts or strikes.

Where are they all now?

Northwestern filed a Request for Review of the Regional Director’s Decision

and Direction of Election directly after Director Ohr’s decision. In a unanimous

decision of the five-member NLRB on the 17th of August, 2015, dismissed the

petition of the football players who were seeking to unionize (Strauss, 2015).

The NLRB effectively states that it cannot assert jurisdiction on this case

(Northwestern v. CAPA, 2015, pg. 6). The five-member board exclaims that the

NLRA gives the NLRB power over private industry and Northwestern is the only

private university in the other 13 public universities membership of the Big 10

Conference. As Mr. Huma declares, “[i]t’s notable [the NLRB] didn’t rule that

players aren’t employees” (Strauss, 2015). Since the Northwestern players vote

whether to certify the union last April, those ballots were impounded pending

this ruling. The ballots will not be counted.

In spite of this, NCAA has changed its governance structure to allow an

increase in the value of athletic scholarships and a four-year guarantee. Many

conferences and universities have started to offer a more comprehensive health

care package, including Northwestern.

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References

Bennett, B. (2014, MAR 26). Northwestern Players get Union Vote.

ESPN.com. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/

id/10677763/northwestern-wildcats-football-players-win-bid-unionize.

(Accessed 21 OCT 2015).

Big Ten History. (2015, JUL). CBSi Advance Media. Retrieved from http://www.

bigten.org/trads/big10-trads.html. (Accessed 7 NOV 2015).

Budd, J. W. (2013). Labor Relations: Striking a Balance, 4th Edition. New York

City, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Northwestern University v. College Athletes Players Association (CAPA). (2014,

APR 24). NLRB No. 13-RC-121359.

Northwestern University v. College Athletes Players Association (CAPA). (2015,

AUG 12). NLRB No. 13-RC-121359.

Strauss, B. (2015, AUG 17). N.L.R.B. Rejects Northwestern Football Players’

Union Bid. The New York Times Company. Retrieved from http://www.ny

times.com/2015/08/18/sports/ncaafootball/nlrb-says-northwestern-

football-players-cannot-unionize.html?_r=0. (Accessed 14 NOV 2015).