A new national union for college athletes launched July 31, backed by the national AFL-CIO and leaders of professional sports unions.
The same day, supporters of the United College Athletes Association (UCAA) announced their first drive for union recognition. Members of the Oregon State University (OSU) women’s basketball team are asking the Oregon Employment Relations Board to certify that a majority of the team’s 14 players want to be represented by UCAA.
Under Oregon’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act, union recognition is normally a slam dunk. But Katelyn Oldham, the attorney helping the union in the case, says there’s a chance OSU may file legal challenges.
“There’s just so much money in sports, and there are certain forces that do not want college athletes to unionize,” Oldham told the Labor Press.
UCAA was founded in 2021 by Washington State University runner Andrew Cooper as a group advocating for college athletes, but on July 31 it announced its formal relaunch as a union. That move was the culmination of more than two years of athlete-led organizing, the UCAA said in a press statement.
UCAA says its mission is to use collective bargaining to protect, organize, and represent college athletes as humans, students, and workers. It wants to ensure college sports are safe, fair, and sustainable while giving athletes a seat at the table.
Jennifer Abruzzo, former general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, is one of the new union’s advisors. During the Biden administration Abruzzo issued a memo making the case that college athletes should be considered university employees for the purpose of unionizing. President Donald Trump terminated Abruzzo a week into his second term.
