Dartmouth College Basketball Players Halt Effort to Unionize

[Omaha Steve]

FULL story here: http://archive.today/YZuyN

The decision to withdraw the petition appeared to be an effort to preserve a favorable federal ruling that could have been in jeopardy under President-elect Donald J. Trump.


The Dartmouth men’s basketball team playing against Columbia University in February in New York.Credit...Adam Gray/Getty Images

By Billy Witz
Dec. 31, 2024

The Dartmouth College basketball players who voted in March to unionize withdrew their petition on Tuesday, a move largely intended to preserve the favorable federal judgment that they had secured and that could have been in jeopardy once President-elect Donald J. Trump took office.

The players were the first college athletes granted the right to unionize by a federal labor official and the ensuing 13-to-2 vote by the men’s team in favor of forming a union seemed like a pivotal moment in the mounting legal challenges to the college sports model. But Dartmouth refused to negotiate with the players and appealed the ruling by the National Labor Relations Board regional director.

Now with Mr. Trump, a Republican, set to return to the White House in less than three weeks, the Service Employees International Union Local 560, which represents the Dartmouth players, recognized that a Republican-leaning N.L.R.B. might not be as friendly to their argument that the athletes should be classified as hourly workers just like other students who have jobs on campus.

“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,” Chris Peck, president of the S.E.I.U. Local 560, said in a statement.

ORIGINAL link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/31/us/dartmouth-basketball-unionize.html