The Dartmouth men’s basketball team is scheduled to tip-off its 2024-25 NCAA season. Not surprisingly, they will do so without a labor contract, notwithstanding the team’s historic vote last March to unionize under federal labor law as “employees” of Dartmouth. Indeed, the team’s fight to form a union and negotiate a labor contract remains sidelined, and as recent (and potentially upcoming) developments reflect, is likely to remain so — indefinitely.
As we previously reported, with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) drawing up the plays, including a determination by the NLRB’s Regional Director that the players — by virtue of playing basketball for the school — are Dartmouth employees under federal labor law, the Dartmouth basketball team voted to unionize, and the NLRB certified Local 560 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to represent the players in collective bargaining with Dartmouth over the terms and conditions of their “employment.” A win, for sure, but to what end?
Dartmouth’s position has been steadfast throughout: its basketball players are student-athletes participating in an extracurricular sport offered by the school and, consequently, are not school employees. Dartmouth undoubtedly takes pride in offering its basketball-playing students an opportunity to participate in NCAA Division 1 competition as part of their educational experience. Would it surprise anyone that Dartmouth would have zero interest in fielding a team and offering...
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