Hiya Bloggers! It's been a while since my last post, which I know saddens all of you, but no need to be worried because I'm back at it again! I'm excited about this one because I do indeed have a strong opinion on it. Please brace yourself as it may get a little heated just as it did in English class. Recently in the news, the football players at Northwestern University got the approval from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on the right to unionize. The Chicago district of the NLRB ruled that players are primarily employees of the university rather than students and therefore have the right to unionize. This union will only include football athletes that receive an (athletic) scholarship and still have eligibility remaining. Many have been asking, what are the motives of these players? Well, Kain Colter, the face of the movement and quarterback for the Northwestern Wildcats, stated a few things that they are seeking which primarily includes the health and safety of the players. When the NLRB made their approval, both Northwestern University and the NCAA were in disgust, as they do not want the players to be able to unionize. NU and the NCAA believe that players are not "employees" or the school; rather they are STUDENT-athletes and are at SCHOOL to learn and be a STUDENT, with the football coming as an extracurricular. Well, both sides have good arguments and the discussion will most likely go on for a long time.
In my opinion, I do not think that the players should be allowed to
unionize, but I'll save that for later. To give the players a fair
case, I'll let you guys know a few things which probably led to why they wanted
to unionize in the first place. First of all, according to this
article, the football players spend about 40-50 hours a week practicing and
doing drills. However, the NCAA mandatory limit is 20 hours per week. The
players are able to go over by holding "optional" workouts which
pretty much if you don't go you get in trouble. In addition to the hours, the
players have found that the coaches can force you to value the team over your
studies. In one prime example, Kain Colter, who wanted to go to medical school,
was told by his coach that he should not take one of the mandatory chemistry
classes because it interfered with football too much. He later had to make up
the class in the summer and fell behind his fellow colleagues. In the end, Kain
ended up switching majors because it was just too much for him. If you think
about it, Kain had to switch from his preferable major just because he had to
play football for a few years. This will most likely affect his future and make
him less happy. After looking at how the players have been required to do too
much and make too much of a commitment, I understand how they want to unionize.
The players for Northwestern University clearly have an argument, but are
their arguments good enough to get the approval to unionize? In my opinion, no.
The thought that they might get to unionize and collectively bargain for
something blows my mind. If they unionize then eventually everyone else is
going to want to unionize to! Also, the players say now that they want to
be able to unionize for safety and health reasons, as well as to try and
get some more scholarship money, but eventually it's going to turn into
something horrid. Over time, they will get more and more greedy and soon will ask
for more. They might soon ask for special benefits, things that they would not
have gotten before, and who knows, maybe they'll eventually want to get paid!
If it gets to that point it will be the end of college sports as we know it.
Players all over the country would want to get paid, but then rules say
you would have to pay an equal number of women. But then maybe other sport
programs would get shut down due to lack of funding! Oh dear, I very much hope
that never happens. All in all, if the scholarship football players at Northwestern University attain the right to unionize, it will only go downhill from there. It will almost become a domino effect amongst college sports across the nation. Their unionization may solve some of their issues, but in the end it will just create more problems.
God Bless and Roll Jays,
John Richter
If you are interested in viewing the articles where I got my information and learned about the case, then here are the links as I have provided each of them.
