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.

The post Anticipating NLRB Change, SEIU Withdraws From Representing Dartmouth Basketball Team appeared first on Labor Today.

The union, representing thousands of workers between the two railroads, said contract talks had reached an impasse. The filing of a Notice of Dispute with Canada’s Labour Minister generally means the government will appoint a conciliation officer to assist in negotiations.

“This is a crucial moment for our members at CPKC, who deserve meaningful progress on the issues that matter most,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “We entered bargaining ready to address the persistent challenges our members face, but the employer’s lack of urgency has left us with no choice but to seek assistance through the conciliation process.”

Unifor Local 101R began negotiations with CPKC in early October to address key issues such as work ownership, job security, and poor labor relations that have severely impacted the working environment. Despite Unifor’s commitment to resolving these concerns, CPKC’s failure to address these fundamental issues prompted the union to file for conciliation.

The development comes as the latest challenge on the labor front for CPKC and its rail network that spans from Canada to Mexico which it acquired when Canadian Pacific merged with Kansas City Southern to form CPKC.

In August, the railroad company along with CN, faced a threat of work stoppage by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Union in one of the biggest service disruptions in the country. That work stoppage began when CP and CN locked out 9,300 workers following months of talks that failed to produce new contracts. Canada’s federal labor board stepped in to impose binding arbitration to avoid a total supply chain breakdown between the Teamsters union and the railway.

The post CANADA: Unifor Files for Conciliation with Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Railroad appeared first on Labor Today.

Teamster Canada has stated that it will lawfully comply with the CIRB decision, but it plans to appeal the ruling in federal court.

The main issues that were at the negotiation tables between the union and the two main Canadian railroad companies, Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), have to do with fatigue, rest, scheduling, and forced relocation. The railroad workers commonly work 80+ hour workweeks for these billion-dollar companies. The Teamsters union disagreed with CN and CPKC over scheduling, shift duration, and availability. For example, in a proposal that is opposed by the union, CN wants to negotiate an increase in work hours from 10-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts.

“This decision by the CIRB sets a dangerous precedent. It signals to Corporate Canada that large companies need only stop their operations for a few hours, inflicting short-term economic pain, and the federal government will step in to break a union. The rights of Canadian workers have been significantly diminished today,” said Paul Boucher, President of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.

“The Trudeau Liberals have chosen to side against middle- and working-class Canadians, abandoning their supposed progressive values at the first sign of short-term supply chain disruptions. The Teamsters have fought to protect rail safety in Canada, improve working conditions, and prevent CN from forcing workers to relocate thousands of kilometers away from their families—and we will continue to do so,” added Boucher.

The unfortunate results delivered by the CIRB remind us that here in the United States a similar conflict occurred between our railroad unions and the corporations back in 2022, which led to Congress declaring any attempt at a railroad strike action to be illegal and forced American railroad workers back to work.

Like their counterparts in the U.S., the Canadian companies used the threat of economic turmoil to coerce the Canadian government into submitting to their demands. This comes as the railroad corporations make record profits and continue the practice of stock buybacks while they refuse to acknowledge the union’s demand for a fair work schedule.

LUEL supports the Teamster’s legal battle in Canada against the decision to prevent workers from striking. The attack on workers in Canada is an attack against workers here in the US.

The post CANADA: Railroad Union Signals Dangerous Precedent as Government Forces Workers Back to Work appeared first on Labor Today.

Teamsters Canada, the union that represents railroad workers in the country, has mentioned the “main sticking points at the bargaining table are company demands, not union proposals.” Both Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) Railroads want concessions on safety issues revolving around crew scheduling, rail safety, and fatigue management.

Like in the U.S., the Canadian railroaders work long hours while having on-call schedules making it difficult to work rested and ready for duty consistently. Both companies claim to be struggling with labor shortages and want to roll back fatigue protections to increase crew availability, regardless of the risks.

CPKC, which was formed from a merger last year from two railroads Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern are proposing to remove collective agreement of safety-critical fatigue provisions that help workers better anticipate when they might be called to work. Removing these provisions would force train crews to stay awake even longer, increasing the risk of derailments and other accidents. CPKC also failed to address the understaffing of rail traffic controllers.

CN is targeting fewer contract provisions around fatigue but still enough to raise safety concerns. Their demand to extend workdays in all provinces west of Ontario is of particular concern. CN aims to implement a forced relocation scheme, which would see workers ordered to move across the country for months to fill labor shortages, tearing families apart.

While the Teamsters Union has expressed their intention to strike, the two companies have declared a lockout for many Canadian rail networks. With close to two weeks of negotiations still ahead, this move represents an unnecessary escalation that goes against the principles of good faith bargaining that CN and CPKC claim to uphold.

In the U.S., railroad workers have also experienced labor disputes with the railroad corporations. Reduction in safety and reduced headcount for crews was a similar problem in 2022 when there was an effort to have a nationwide railroad strike in the U.S. Unlike Canada, the U.S. government prevented a railroad strike from happening. What happened two months later on February 3^rd, 2023 was the East Palestine, Ohio derailment which lease to the release of hazardous materials within the city limits.

Teamster Canada mentioned on their website that “compromising on safety or threatening to tear families apart for months at a time, are not pathways to an agreement or solutions to staffing problems. CN and CPKC should instead be looking to improve working conditions and adopt a more humane approach to railroading.”

The Canadian Class 1 railroads are following the American lead in slashing safety to improve production. It is clear they view the lives of their workers as expendable in order to keep the increased profits flowing. LUEL stands in solidarity with the railroaders in Canada in their fight. Read the full statement by Teamsters Canada here.

The post Canadian Railroads in Bad Faith Declare a Lockout for Railroad Employees appeared first on Labor Today.