Let’s Look at the Issues

The decline in union density in the U.S. over the last 40 years has clearly resulted in a corresponding national decline in both real wages and the middle class standard of living. This is an established fact, based on both government statistics and private studies, and it was recently confirmed by an independent analysis by the New York Times.

There are several reasons cited for the decline in union membership, and we don’t have to look any further than the recent events at Northwestern University to see why organizing can be so difficult.

To understand what happened at Northwestern one has to first realize that college sports has become big business. Broadcast networks pay billions of dollars to air college football and basketball games. Modern stadiums and arenas take in billions in ticket sales. But the scholarship players—those accepted into colleges and universities for their athletic ability—have little or no say in any aspect of their participation in sports. This is what led football players at Northwestern to petition the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election to join a union. The NLRB subsequently ruled that the athletes are indeed employees of the university and it gave the players the right to vote to unionize. Then all hell broke loose.

Northwestern University used every union-busting tactic in the playbook to thwart the students’ attempt to organize. For starters, on the first day of football practice after the NLRB issued its decision to allow the students a vote to unionize, each of the players received a free iPad from the school. Other students at Northwestern did not receive free iPads, and student athletes are not supposed to receive gifts. But the university insisted that the iPads for the football players were not intended to influence their vote on unionizing. The same day, according to the New York Times, all the players were treated to a team party at a bowling alley. Presumably, the university allowed the players to have strikes while compiling their bowling scores.

There were other actions taken to thwart the students’ attempt to unionize. The Times reported that the president emeritus of Northwestern started claiming that Division I sports at the university could end if the students organized. The Times further reported that the head football coach at the school, Pat Fitzgerald, said if the students voted to join the union it would amount to disloyalty. Fitzgerald held captive audience meetings that players were required to attend and he also met individually with the players.

Some of the coaches even contacted the players’ parents!

There were threats, too. Players were told their coach may quit if they voted to unionize. They were even told that if they joined the union it would be more difficult for them to find jobs after graduation. Other threats reported by the Times included a possible loss of alumni donations to the school and the cancellation of a $225 million athletic center at Northwestern.

As in any anti-union campaign, the university’s drive to stop the players from unionizing is rooted in greed. If the workers join a union they will have to be considered employees and they will have rights As an example, they would be entitled to negotiate through their union for compensation (wages), as well as other traditional features that are obtained through collective bargaining.

Yes, it’s all about money—more money for the school, but little or nothing for the players except free tuition and, after they petitioned to unionize, free iPads.

The NLRB vote to decide whether the players will unionize was held on Friday, April 25. But we won’t know the outcome of the vote for many months, maybe more than a year. That’s because the school has filed objections to the NLRB’s ruling that said the player-students could have such a vote. This not only means long delays for the players it also means lots of legal fees for them and their fledgling union. And since the organizing drive was generated by the player-students themselves there was no skilled union organizing staff to vaccinate them against the school’s heavy and relentless anti-union campaign.

In these respects the organizing drive among the student-athletes at Northwestern is not very different than organizing drives in workplaces across the U.S. It shows why a strong and skilled organizing staff and competent lawyers are so important in making an organizing drive successful. It also shows the exact kind of corporate anti-union behavior that has caused union density in the U.S. to decline, along with a corresponding decline in wages and the middle class standard of living.