The Dartmouth College men’s basketball team is withdrawing its historic bid to form a union, months after voting to do so.
The decision, announced Tuesday, comes as Republicans prepare to take control of the National Labor Relations Board, which could affect who is allowed to work in colleges. The board’s district office cleared the way earlier this year for the players to vote on the petition, ruling that student-athletes are employees and therefore allowed to unionize.
Dartmouth disagreed with that idea and refused to negotiate with the group until the five-member NLRB ruled on the matter. Currently, the five-member panel has two vacancies, so incoming President Donald Trump could quickly reshuffle the board. In withdrawing the request, the Service Employees International Union, Local 560, which represents the players, decided not to gamble with the new board and risk negative publicity.
“By filing to withdraw our petition today, we want to preserve the precedent set by this group of young men on the varsity basketball team,” club president Chris Peck said in a statement. The Associated Press. “They advanced labor negotiations and collective bargaining in college sports and set a record for separation as labor, won their union election 13-2, and became the first certified bargaining unit for college athletes in the country.”
The Dartmouth team’s union has threatened to boycott college sports and added more urgency to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s efforts to resolve the question of whether student athletes are employees who cannot bargain collectively. The NCAA has urged Congress to pass legislation that would make college athletes non-employees. The next Congress seems likely to grant that request.
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