(TheIndependentStar.com) – In a bewildering development showing how popular communism has become among elitist US universities, the Dartmouth College men’s basketball team has voted to form a labor union despite the idea’s seeming absurdity.
Described as a “groundbreaking” development with potential ramifications for the landscape of college sports, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team voted 13-2 in favor of unionization on Tuesday, The Athletic reports, cited by Newsmax.
The team’s journey towards forming a union began in September when they submitted a unionization petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), aiming to affiliate with the Service Employees International Union, Local 560.
The voting process occurred at Dartmouth’s campus in Hanover, New Hampshire.
It is anticipated that the university will seek a review of this decision by the NLRB and is expected to challenge the outcome in a federal court.
The path to official union recognition and the commencement of collective bargaining is likely to encounter delays of several months due to the anticipated appeals process, the report notes.
Laura Sacks, the NLRB Regional Director, determined that the players qualify as employees and are thus entitled to unionize.
“Because Dartmouth has the right to control the work performed by the Dartmouth men’s basketball team, and the players perform that work in exchange for compensation, I find that the petitioned-for basketball players are employees within the meaning of the Act,” she asserted.
In a response issued on Tuesday, Dartmouth contested the notion of its players being considered as employees.
“For Ivy League students who are varsity athletes, academics are of primary importance, and athletic pursuit is part of the educational experience,” Dartmouth stated, according to ESPN.
“Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate,” it said further.
While there have been previous attempts by college sports teams to unionize, such as the effort by Northwestern’s football team in 2014, Dartmouth’s case is unique given its status within the Ivy League, which consists exclusively of private institutions.
The attempt by Northwestern, a member of the Big Ten Conference—which mainly includes public schools—did not proceed, as the NLRB declined to exercise jurisdiction over the case due to the complexity of varying state labor laws.
Thus, Dartmouth’s case is poised to be the precursor to several similar challenges expected to be brought before the NLRB this year, with a related complaint involving USC, the Pac-12, and the NCAA.
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