On Aug. 21, Service Employees International Union, Local 560 — the union representing the men’s basketball team — filed an unfair labor practice charge against the College for refusing to bargain in good faith with the men’s basketball team union, according to an SEIU, Local 560, press release.
The men’s basketball team voted 13-2 to unionize on March 5, becoming the first successful unionization attempt by college athletes in the United States. The same month, the College declined the union’s request to bargain. In the August press release, Local 560 president Chris Peck wrote that the College’s refusal violates labor law and the Dartmouth Code of Ethics.
“For nearly 60 years, Dartmouth has followed a tradition of bargaining fair and equitable union contracts with our local, and while expensive legal judgments continue to pile up against the NCAA, the tide has shifted and it is past time for Dartmouth administration to avoid the looming financial and legal liabilities by grasping this opportunity to show leadership,” Peck wrote in the statement.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth, College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote that the College will appeal the unfair labor practice charge.
In March, the College previously appealed a Feb. 5 decision by National Labor Relations Board regional director Laura Sacks ruling that the men’s basketball players are employees of the College — and are therefore eligible to unionize. Barnello explained that Dartmouth’s refusal to bargain — an “unprecedented step” in the College’s “long history of labor negotiations” — seeks to “ensure this matter is reviewed by a federal court.” The College continues to await the full NLRB’s decision, she added.
“While we continue to negotiate in good faith with multiple unions representing Dartmouth employees, our responsibility to future generations of students means we must explore all our legal options for challenging the regional director’s error — which was contrary to every legal precedent,” Barnello wrote.
Despite the regional director’s decision, the College maintains that the players are not employees, Barnello added.
“Dartmouth’s decades-long commitment to athletics is an extension of our academic mission, and we maintain that the regional director made an extraordinary mistake in finding these students are employees,” Barnello wrote. “Varsity athletes in the Ivy League are not employees; they are students whose educational program includes athletics.”
In the press release, Peck pushed back against this argument.
“As is already evident on a campus with hundreds of undergraduate workers, student employment is entirely compatible with Dartmouth’s educational mission,” he wrote. “It is obvious to the entire Dartmouth community that varsity athletes are held to a different standard than other students.”
