Agency sets date for Northwestern players union vote

Posted April 02, 2014 1:01 am

Associated Press

A federal agency says a date has been set for Northwestern football players to vote on authorizing a union to represent them in collective bargaining with the university.

A spokesman for the National Labor Relations Board confirmed Wednesday that the vote is scheduled for April 25.

The players will cast ballots on whether to organize under the College Athletes Players Association, known as CAPA. CAPA took the lead in pushing for the right to form the nation's first college athletes' union at Northwestern.

In a decision that rocked college sports, the regional director of the agency ruled last week that the Northwestern players were employees and so could unionize. The Evanston, Ill.-based university has said it will appeal the ruling to the agency's national board in Washington, D.C.

Former Northwestern University football quarterback Cain Colter, right, and Ramogi Huma, founder and president of the National College Players Association arrive Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington. Members of a group seeking to unionize college athletes are looking for allies on Capitol Hill as they brace for an appeal of a ruling that said full scholarship athletes at Northwestern University are employees who have the right to form a union. Associated Press

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