Amicus Brief Filed in NLRB Case Concerning Northwestern University Athlete Unionization

View the brief here

UPDATE: On August 17, 2015, the National Labor Relations Board denied a petition by Northwest University football players to form a union, while declining to rule on whether college athletes are employees or students.

Below is the summary of CEI’s amicus brief submitted to the NLRB in support of the requesters and opposing the regional director’s decision and direction of election:

In summary, this amicus brief supports the outcome of Brown and suggests that receiving grant-in-aid scholarship money does not rise to the level of establishing an employment relationship. In the end, unions are in it for the money. Big Labor spends more than $600 million per year on politics and lobbying. Unions are big business, and they—in this case the Steelworkers—see college athletics as another source of revenue and college students as a means to an end. The best interests of the students dictate that collective bargaining not be imposed. Counsel Alex Barbour aptly summarizes, “The model of collective bargaining that CAPA is espousing in this case is simply a Rube Goldberg contraption that would not work in the real world.”

Read the full amicus brief here. Read the NLRB’s decision here.

Related:

>> NLRB Denies Petition to Form College Athlete Union, for Now
>> The NLRB Declines Jurisdiction in College Athlete Unionization Case

Excerpt:

In summary, this amicus brief supports the outcome of Brown and suggests that receiving grant-in-aid scholarship money does not rise to the level of establishing an employment relationship. In the end, unions are in it for the money. Big Labor spends more than $600 million per year on politics and lobbying. Unions are big business, and they—in this case the Steelworkers—see college athletics as another source of revenue and college students as a means to an end. The best interests of the students dictate that collective bargaining not be imposed. Counsel Alex Barbour aptly summarizes, “The model of collective bargaining that CAPA is espousing in this case is simply a Rube Goldberg contraption that would not work in the real world.”