BOSTON — The Dartmouth The men’s basketball team abandoned its bid to form a union Tuesday, ending an attempt to become the first college sports team to voluntarily unionize to avoid a potentially damaging precedent from the National Labor Relations Board. A coin that will soon be put under Republican control.
The Service Employees International Union Local 560 has filed to withdraw the NLRB petition rather than face its chances with an unfriendly labor board likely to take over in a new presidential administration. The board’s regional director approved the request later on Tuesday.
“While our strategy is changing, we continue to advocate for just compensation, adequate health coverage, and safe working conditions for the university’s athletes at Dartmouth,” SEIU Local 560 President Chris Peck said in a statement. will,” to solve the problems” facing college athletics today.
Although the NCAA considers players “student-athletes,” Dartmouth’s players petitioned the labor board in 2023 for the right to unionize, saying the New Hampshire school had too much control over their schedules and working conditions. Controlled that they meet the legal definition of employees. A regional official agreed, and the team voted 13-2 in March to join SEIU Local 560, which already represents some Dartmouth workers.
The school said it would refuse to bargain with the players, a strategy aimed at taking the case to federal court. Before sitting at the bargaining table, the players will need favorable rulings from the NLRB, which currently has two openings that will be filled by President-elect Donald Trump after his inauguration on Jan. 20.
In a statement, the school maintained that the decision to classify the players as employees was “wrong and not supported by legal precedent.”
“Dartmouth has developed productive relationships with unions that are part of our campus community and deeply respects our 1,500 union colleagues. However, in this isolated instance, we did not believe unionization was appropriate, ” said the school. “We will continue to support our men’s basketball team and all of our students in their athletic endeavors that complement and enhance their educational experience at Dartmouth.”
Cade Haskins And Romeo Merthalthe two Dartmouth players who launched the union effort, did not immediately respond to text messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. But the union appreciated his efforts.
“By filing today to withdraw our petition, we seek to uphold the precedent set by this extraordinary group of young men on the men’s varsity basketball team,” Peck said. “They advanced employment and collective bargaining negotiations in college sports by being classified as employees, winning their union elections 13-2, and becoming the first bargaining unit of college athletes in the nation. Made history.”
The Dartmouth case threatened to end the NCAA’s amateur model, in which players remain unpaid even as college sports have grown into a multibillion-dollar industry that rewards coaches and schools handsomely.
Recent court decisions have dismantled this framework, allowing athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness and receive a limited stipend for living expenses above the cost of attendance. The NCAA is lobbying Congress to preserve the amateur model, an approach that becomes more possible with Republican control.
Both sides agree that the current paradigm is under threat.
A college athletes union would be unprecedented in American sports. A previous attempt to unify Northwest The football team failed because opponents in the Big Ten Conference included public schools not under the jurisdiction of the NLRB. A separate complaint to the NLRB asks that football and basketball players USC Be considered employees of your school and the NCAA.