Men’s basketball players at Dartmouth have received the go ahead to vote on whether to form a union, a potentially groundbreaking development in college sports.
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
The Dartmouth men’s basketball team is not headed for March Madness. They’re currently in last place in the Ivy League.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: There’s Myrthil in the right corner wide open, and it’s in and out again.
PFEIFFER: But they are headed for something historic – a union election. NPR’s Andrea Hsu explains why that has the college sports world talking.
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: Two years ago, Dartmouth’s 6’6″ forward, Cade Haskins, was busy going to practices and games, keeping up with his classes and working in the campus snack bar. Then, other students working for Dartmouth Dining began agitating for a union.
CADE HASKINS: I was kind of just listening, reading all about it, staying informed.
HSU: His interest surged as the students won their union election and then won big raises. Haskins’ wage went from 13.25 an hour to now, as a supervisor, just under 25 an hour. That got him thinking about his basketball teammates and all the time they spend at practice watching film, lifting weights and traveling to games on weekends.
HASKINS: It’s easily 30-plus hours a week, honestly.
HSU: If he got paid for that, Haskins thought, he could quit the snack bar and his second job at the alumni desk. Haskins started talking to his teammates about what they could get from being in a union – the right to bargain over not just pay, but health benefits.
HASKINS: You know, basketball – it’s a physical sport, so, you know, people get hurt. This year, we’ve had a lot more injuries than most years.
HSU: He himself has suffered shoulder and hip injuries and says Dartmouth doesn’t help with the extra costs. Well, last September, the 15 players on the team came together and signed union cards, pledging their desire to join a union…
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