Anticipating NLRB Change, SEIU Withdraws From Representing Dartmouth Basketball Team

Service Employees International Union Local 560 has decided to end its efforts to represent the Ivy League school, Dartmouth men’s basketball team by submitting a request to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

This comes as the NLRB expects President-Elect Donald Trump to appoint new board members who will be more antagonistic to labor and the basketball team’s efforts.

The NCAA and the Amateur Model

College sports athletes have a unique classification in this country that goes back to the founding of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1906. The NCAA regulates team players as student-athletes who are not considered employees and prevents them from obtaining a salary. They can do this by requiring the athletes to be considered ‘amateurs.’

Today, college sports produce a multi-billion dollar industry generated by the labor of the athletes. In college football, for example, the Big Ten Conference gave a $7 billion rights deal between three TV networks, creating an NFL-style television schedule on Saturdays.

The NCAA has been compared to being part of an “unlawful cartel” as was mentioned in the case (O’Brian v NCAA) in 2014,  when college football players attempted to sue the organization for enriching itself and its five dominant conferences that “illegally restricted the earning power of football and men’s basketball players while making billions off their labor.”

The NCAA has been lobbying Congress for a continuation of the exploitive “amateur” model. Senator Ted Cruz intends to lead the NCAA’s interest in the Senate when Republicans take control and Trump takes power later this month, in January.

“The situation is much more doable with Republicans in control,” said Tom McMillen, a former Democratic congressman “From the standpoint of the NCAA’s perspective, this is sort of an ideal scenario for them.”

Setting a New Precedent for Student Athletes

Due to the NCAA’s classification and Dartmouth’s control over their working conditions and scheduling of games, the team decided to unionize in 2023 and petitioned the NLRB. The ruling on the case agreed with the basketball team a new precedent that would end the amateur model of the NCAA and give employee status to college athletes.

“By filing a request to withdraw our petition today, we seek to preserve the precedent set by this exceptional group of young people on the men’s varsity basketball team,” Chris Peck, president of Local 560 said. “They have pushed the conversation on employment and collective bargaining in college sports forward and made history by being classified as employees, winning their union election 13-2, and becoming the first certified bargaining unit of college athletes in the country.

“While our strategy is shifting, we will continue to advocate for just compensation, adequate health coverage, and safe working conditions for varsity athletes at Dartmouth,” Peck said in a statement that called collective bargaining “the only viable pathway to address issues” facing college athletics today.

While the current withdrawal from unionization is disappointing, LUEL supports the efforts of the Dartmouth Men’s basketball team, along with any sports team, to find a path to unionization.