The Northwestern Steelworkers

Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the members of the Northwestern University football team are university employees and as such, they may unionize and are entitled to compensation for their time spent training, practicing and playing football for dear old NU. The player who filed the suit was backed by the United Steelworkers, an industrial labor union with little in common with Northwestern’s leafy, lake front campus in Evanston, IL.

Northwestern is appealing the ruling; the issue won’t be decided for months (or years) and when it is, it will apply only to students at private schools, not public schools, which fall under the jurisdiction of state labor boards.

Most media coverage favors the NLRB decision and comes down on the side of the players. The exceptions include college presidents, the NCAA, the Wall Street Journal and my friend, No Sweat Kosinski.

Here’s his contrarian point-of-view.

Mikey,

I can’t get enough of the story about the “employees” on the Northwestern University football team unionizing. Most pundits and talking heads seem to think it’s great for the players and great for big time college sports, while I wonder about the unintended consequences. Here are a baker’s dozen questions I’ve been asking myself about what college athletics might look like after the United Steelworkers organize the NU football team.

• If, instead of scholarships, NU football player/employees get a stipend that pays their tuition, will the IRS rule that it’s taxable income?
• Will the NU football team captain be replaced by a union steward?
• If other private colleges follow Northwesters lead, will there be scabs in the locker room of private schools in right to work states like Utah, Texas, Indiana and Florida? What will this do to team unity?
• What will NU do when the women’s field hockey team demands the same employee rights as the football team? What about team trainers and managers, cheerleaders and band members?
• What about the employee/players who don’t want to join a union; will pro-union goons harass them? Will goons in the locker room replace bullies in the locker room? Will there be a remake of the movie “On the Waterfront” titled “On the Gridiron?”
• If the coach decides not to renew a player’s scholarship, will the NLRB rule that the player has been “fired” and is entitled to unemployment insurance? Will the coach have to prove the player was “fired for cause?”
• If a player is injured and claims NU is an unsafe work environment, can he file a worker’s comp claim?
• What happens if more than one union wants to represent a team? Will there be discord in the locker room as the players take sides?
• Will attendance at football games decline as students show less interest in seeing “hired hands” play for their school?
• Will alumni be less likely to make donations knowing their money will be used to pay the salaries and union dues of the player/employees the football coach hires?
• If net revenue from “moneymaking” sports like football and basketball declines, will so-called “minor sports” be eliminated as athletic departments make cuts to balance budgets?
• How long will it be before we see a team strike for higher pay or better working conditions?
• If Northwestern can pay their employee/players and public universities in the Big Ten cannot, does this create a recruiting advantage for NU?

On a serious note, I’d caution college football players to be careful what they wish for. Getting in bed with Big Labor may not create the worker’s paradise they envision. As the United Steelworkers power and influence increased, employment and steel production declined in the US as steel mills closed and moved off shore. If they represent football players as well as they represented the working stiffs in the mills, players may come to regret their decision.

When the NLRB made its ruling, NU’s President Emeritus, Henry Bienen, said, “If we got into collective bargaining situations, I would not take for granted that the Northwesterns of the world would continue to play Division 1 sports.” I hope NU football players think long and hard before they vote to put on their hard hats and fasten their chinstraps as members of the Northwestern University Steelworkers.

Regards,
No Sweat

Whether you agree with No Sweat or not, there are a couple leadership lessons we can take from this.

1. First, we need to anticipate the unintended consequences of our decisions.
2. And second, if all the value of the product we make or service we deliver is derived from our employees, we damn well better reward them for their effort and make them feel appreciated.