Unjust labor claim submitted versus ND over athletes

Apr 18, 2024, 09:55 PM ET

SOUTH BEND, Ind.– An unreasonable labor grievance was filed Thursday against the University of Notre Dame for classifying college athletes as “student-athletes.”

The grievance was submitted with the National Labor Relations Board by a California-based group calling itself the College Basketball Players Association. It said Notre Dame is engaging in unreasonable labor practices as specified by the National Labor Relations Act.The grievance is similar to one filed versus University of Southern California last May by the NLRB’s Los Angeles office declaring players on USC’s football and guys’s and ladies’s basketball groups are workers and not “student-athletes” within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.Notre Dame

mentioned its Declaration for Concepts for Intercollegiate Athletics in reacting to a request for talk about the problem, saying sports is “an integrated participant in and factor to the University’s education mission …”

“Clearly, Notre Dame’s athletic programs belong to– not separate from– our more comprehensive academic mission,” the school stated. “We will strongly safeguard our technique to guaranteeing that being a ‘student-athlete” describes exactly the instructional and developmental experience our students receive at Notre Dame.”

A judgment by a local NLRB director in February led the way for the Dartmouth men’s basketball team to vote to participate in union last month, though the school is challenging the ruling.