[ti:Are Student-athletes Considered College Employees?]
[al:Education Report]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-03-10]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]The Dartmouth College men's basketball team voted to join a labor organization, called a union, this week.
[00:10.66]The move means that the student-athletes on the team could have the right to negotiate a working contract like other university employees.
[00:21.95]In an election held by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the team members voted 13-2 to join Service Employees International Union Local 560.
[00:40.62]The same union also represents some workers at Dartmouth.
[00:46.34]Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil are Dartmouth basketball players. 
[00:54.61]The student-athletes said of the vote, "... we, as students, can also be both campus workers and union members. 
[01:05.59]Dartmouth seems to be stuck in the past. It's time for the age of amateurism to end."
[01:13.80]However, the school in Hanover, New Hampshire has already appealed the local NLRB decision. 
[01:22.55]In a statement, Dartmouth said, "Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate."
[01:36.01]The school also warned the students that unionizing could get the team removed from athletic competition.
[01:45.65]Both sides have until March 12 to file objections with the NLRB. 
[01:55.23]The case could also end up in federal court, which would likely delay the outcome for some time.
[02:05.38]The Dartmouth vote is the latest effort by student-athletes to unionize and gain money and other rights in exchange for many hours spent practicing and playing sports.
[02:21.22]In 2015, a local NLRB blocked an attempt by students on the football team at Northwestern University in Illinois to form a union. 
[02:36.12]But the decision did not directly answer the question of whether student-athletes are employees.
[02:45.57]The history of college students playing sports for their school goes back over 100 years.
[02:55.07]The National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, is the governing body for college sports.
[03:04.46]The organization has long said that its players are "student-athletes" who go to school mainly to study.
[03:16.47]At first, students were not paid to play sports and were considered "amateurs." 
[03:24.03]Gradually, student-athletes from large universities started receiving money for housing, food and tuition.
[03:34.38]In recent years, American television networks have spent more money to broadcast college sports around the country and the world. 
[03:45.50]The Big Ten, an athletic organization with college teams from the New York area to Los Angeles, reached an agreement in 2022 to broadcast its football and basketball games for $7 billion.
[04:05.56]As college sports became popular, teams from large universities now regularly play in front of large crowds of up to 100,000 people. 
[04:18.58]And some student-athletes have become even better known than professional athletes.
[04:27.20]In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA could not prevent college athletes from getting paid by outside groups in return for the use of their name or image.
[04:44.03]That opened the door for some college athletes to make lots of money. 
[04:50.97]This year, one top student-athlete is Caitlin Clark, a basketball player at the University of Iowa.
[04:59.63]She set college scoring records and reportedly earns nearly $1 million a year for the use of her name and image.
[05:10.86]The Dartmouth basketball players will never be famous enough to make that kind of money.
[05:19.04]One student-athlete said what he really wants from the union push is to get access to better healthcare so he can heal his basketball injuries.
[05:31.07]Tony Clark is the head of the Major League Baseball Players Association. 
[05:35.73]He said the vote gives the Dartmouth basketball players "a seat at the table and powerful voice."
[05:45.57]One basketball coach whose team is very well known - Dan Hurley of the University of Connecticut - said some kind of union or players' organization is the future of college sports.
[06:00.89]"These players are putting in incredible work days, work weeks for five, six months," he said.
[06:10.19]"I think there's so much there that's going to have to be settled."
[06:15.68]A 2015 legal case suggested athletes like the basketball players can spend up to 40 hours per week involved in their sports activities, leaving little time for study or work.
[06:31.40]Haskins said he loves playing basketball. 
[06:36.23]But he has had serious injuries to his ankle, hip and shoulder while playing. "It is definitely a burden," he said.
[06:46.13]Union interest among younger workers is growing, says the Economic Policy Institute. 
[06:53.04]Workers under 45 joined unions at the highest rate in 2023.
[06:59.05]Myrthil said he will talk about the union with new students who are coming next year. 
[07:06.26]"We'll introduce them to the idea and what it means," he said. "And then hopefully it gets passed on."
[07:13.38]I'm Dan Friedell. And I'm Gena Bennett.