College Athletes Granted the Right to Unionize—Is This the End of the NCAA?

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College Athletes Granted the Right to Unionize—Is This the End of the NCAA?

College Athletes Granted the Right to Unionize—Is This the End of the NCAA?

The monumental ruling could change the face of college athletics, as we know it.

In a ground breaking decision, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a ruling on Wednesday holding that Northwestern football players qualified as “employees” of the university and therefore had the right to form a union, the NY Times reported.

The ruling in essence now allows players to hold a vote on whether they want to be represented by a union as well as granting them collective bargaining powers with Northwestern over player benefits.

NLRB regional director Peter Sung Ohr mentioned in the 24-page decision that the player’s time commitment to their sports and the fact that their scholarships, valued at $ 60,000 per year, are tied directly to their performance allowed them to fall within the broad definition of ‘employee’ under common law.

President of the National College Players Association, Ramogi Human, said he had much respect for the players who stood up to exercise their rights under labor law, ESPN reported.                                                                            

“The NCAA invented the term student-athlete to prevent the exact ruling that was made today. For 60 years, people have bought into the notion that they are students only. The reality is players are employees, and today"s ruling confirms that. The players are one giant step closer to justice.”

The decision comes as a huge blow to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) which plans on fighting the decision. Northwestern issued a statement after the ruling saying it would appeal to the full NLRB in Washington D.C. arguing that student-athletes are not employees but students and that the decision will throw away a system that has helped millions of students attend college.

“We want student athletes – 99 percent of whom will never make it to the professional leagues  – focused on what matters most, finding success in the classroom, on the field and in life,” NCAA chief legal officer Donald Remy said.

They say giving employee status to students can hurt college kids in many ways by raising the prospects of strikes by dissatisfied players or lockouts by athletic departments.

Yet, advocates of the ruling say the organization is merely acting out of fear in an epic fight for its life as the decision potentially has the power to threaten its very existence. Not to mention, a ruling of this magnitude could open the floodgates for other university non-employees such as custodial staff, work-study students and graduate teachers to join in the fight for union rights.

The NCAA currently generates billions of dollars from college football and has come under scrutiny before for its amateur, byzantine rules.  It has been criticized for failing to protect players from debilitating head injuries as well as unfairly profiting from players from live broadcasts, all for the indulgence of corporate sponsors.

Wildcats quarterback Kain Colter, one of the students who brought the case in January has declared the decision a huge win for all college athletes.  Colter testified that he was steered away from difficult science class and denied his dream of pursuing a career as a doctor.

“For me this was just an opportunity to make things right and stick up for future generations and make up for the wrongs of past generations,” Colter said.

Consequently, the College Athletes Player Association hopes the decision will modify the rules on how athletes should be compensated and lead to guarantees to protect coverage of sports-related medical expenses for current and former players.  What’s more, it is hoped the ruling will allow players to fairly profit and pursue commercial sponsorships, which may one day extend to other division at private universities.

 

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College Athletes Granted the Right to Unionize—Is This the End of the NCAA?

College Athletes Granted the Right to Unionize—Is This the End of the NCAA?

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College Athletes Granted the Right to Unionize—Is This the End of the NCAA?

Hospital closure power granted

11 March 2014
Last updated at 21:08

MPs have voted through a controversial measure that gives England’s health secretary powers to close local hospitals, even if they are performing well.

Clause 119 in the Care Bill allows a hospital to be closed or downgraded if a neighbouring trust is struggling financially.

The government maintains it is a good way to address local care issues.

But critics say the powers put finances ahead of patient care.

Clause 119 gives special administrators the power to make changes to neighbouring services while trying to rescue failing NHS trusts.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Change is notoriously difficult. Which politician wants to make the case for closures?

Plans for change normally require lengthy public consultation, and backing from local doctors before they can be pushed through.

If that doesn’t work and the trust becomes financially unsustainable a special administrator can be appointed to draw up a fast-track plan for reorganisation, with only brief consultation.

This has to be signed off by the health secretary.

But the process came unstuck in south London where – as part of changes to a neighbouring trust – the rescue plan involved cuts to Lewisham hospital.

The court of appeal ruled last year the health secretary had acted beyond his authority.

Clause 119 of the Care Bill is designed to get round this – so if a trust is put in the hands of a special administrator, it can recommend changes across the whole region.

It was inserted into the bill after the High Court ruled last October that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had acted outside his powers when he decided the emergency and maternity units at Lewisham Hospital, in south-east London, should be cut back to save a neighbouring trust that was going bust – Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich.

It means Trust Special Administrators who take over any failing NHS trusts in England can push through whatever other local changes they think are necessary, although they will have to consult the public, commissioners and staff.

A total of 297 MPs voted in favour of Clause 119, while 239 voted against it.

There have been several high-profile campaigns to save hospitals and services earmarked for closure in recent years, including the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign.

Labour shadow health secretary Andy Burnham told MPs Clause 119 was dangerous and wrong.

He said: “It creates an entirely new route for hospital reconfiguration – top-down, finance-led.

“It subverts the established process in the NHS which requires that any changes to hospitals should first and foremost be about saving lives, rather than saving money, and it puts management consultants, not medical consultants or GPs, in the driving seat.”

Labour says more than 30 cash-strapped trusts could face closures.

But Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said clause 119 would help drive forward changes to ensure patient safety when trusts were found to be failing.

A Department of Health spokesperson said the clause would only ever be used as a “last resort”.

“Changes to the special administrator regime will ensure that patients get safe care, and these powers have only ever been used in extremis twice since 2009.

“It is a process of last resort, when a hospital trust faces very serious financial or quality risks,” the spokesman said.

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Hospital closure power granted

Top Cuomo aide granted waiver after repeatedly breaking NY gun law

BizPac Review – by Michael Dorstewitz

A top aide to strict gun-grabbing New York Gov.Andrew Cuomo has been granted a waiver forcarrying a firearm at government offices in violation of state law.

Cuomo appointed Jerome Hauer to take over the state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services in 2011, according to the Albany Times Union.  

The Albany, N.Y.-based newspaper reported in early January that Hauer used his firearm’s laser sight as a pointer device during a meeting with a delegation of Swedish security professionals — with his loaded 9-mm Glock still attached.

People sitting across from Hauer “moved quickly out of the line of the laser when he brought out the gun,” and three of the Swedes “were rattled when the gun’s laser tracked across one of their heads before Hauer found the map of New York, at which he wanted to point,” the Times Union report.

The meeting took place on Oct. 24, but the incident didn’t come to light until last month.

US Army builds 300-acre eerily fake American city to train soldiers

On Wednesday, the Times Union reported:

Cuomo defended Hauer at a news conference Wednesday. The governor said he’s comfortable with commissioners carrying weapons to work as long as they have gun permits. He qualified the response by adding “if they are licensed and in that field of work.”

Hauer is not a law enforcement officer or working in law enforcement, although his official vehicle has emergency lights and sirens.

Despite the lack of a waiver before January, several witnesses said he has been carrying a gun on the job since Cuomo appointed him in 2011.

One of the basic rules of firearm safety is to never draw a weapon unless you intend to use it — as a weapon, not as a pointer. And never point a weapon at anything you don’t intend to destroy.

Cuomo’s crusade against firearms apparently applies to all New Yorkers except those he blesses, and Hauer is one of the blessed.

Now he has a gun and a car with lights and a siren, which makes me feel very safe — because I don’t live in New York.

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2014/02/15/top-cuomo-aide-granted-waiver-after-repeatedly-breaking-ny-gun-law-100788

Top Cuomo aide granted waiver after repeatedly breaking NY gun law

Temporary Restraining Order Granted (but Stayed) Against NSA Phone Spying!

A bit of good news: a federal judge has ruled that the NSA’s blanket phone spying operation is “likely unconstitutional” and has granted a temporary restraining order against it, which he immediately stayed pending appeal. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon blasted the NSA in his 68 page ruling, noting that he “cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen.”

It’s about time. Let’s see what the D.C. Circuit has to say…

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TSA Out of Our Pants!

Temporary Restraining Order Granted (but Stayed) Against NSA Phone Spying!

Kennedy Cousin Granted Bail

(Newser) – The Kennedy cousin convicted of murdering his neighbor in 1975 will soon be free on bail. Michael Skakel was granted bail of $ 1.2 million today, and he was expected to be freed shortly, the AP reports. He’ll have to stay in Connecticut and wear a GPS tracker, the judge ruled. Skakel, nephew to Ethel Kennedy, was granted a new trial last month after a judge ruled his lawyer in the original trial did not represent him adequately. “Everybody in my family knows that Michael is innocent,” said Robert Kennedy Jr. this week. “The only crime that he committed was having a bad lawyer.”

Specifically, the judge said Skakel’s attorney did not locate a witness who confirmed Skakel’s alibi for the night of the murder, and also failed to locate a man who challenged the claim of a star witness that Skakel had confessed to the crime. The judge also said the defense team should have focused more on Skakel’s older brother, Thomas, an early suspect and the last person to have been seen with victim Martha Moxley. Moxley’s family was in attendance for the bail hearing; her mother said this week she is convinced Skakel killed her daughter and “he ought to serve his punishment.”

Newser

Kennedy Cousin Granted Bail