Those eligible Northwestern University student football players who receive athletic scholarships have cast their ballots in an April 25 election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board to determine whether they wished to be represented by a union known as College Athletes Players Association. The “walk-on” members of the team, who are not on scholarship, were not permitted to vote. There were 76 eligible voters, most between the ages of 18 and 23. We do not know the results. We may never know the results. The ballots have been impounded pending the board’s review of the unprecedented March 26 decision of the regional director of the board’s Chicago Region 13 that the Northwestern football players on scholarship are employees with the right to organize under the National Labor Relations Act. (See Northwestern University (Case No. 13-RC-121359).) The implications of a binding decision that scholarship football players are employees with the right to organize under the labor law are far-reaching. Northwestern’s president has stated the university will contest this ruling all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if need be. But, the chances this will get that far are remote. This is a battle the board and the union movement will not win.
With the ballots impounded, what will happen? There are several possible scenarios. In none of the scenarios will the issue of whether college football players have a right to unionize soon be resolved.
