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Bill Introduced into Congress to Allow College Athletes to Unionize, Become Employees

Related Topics: Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy

Sens. Chris Murphy and Bernie Sanders introduced the College Athlete Right to Organize Act, which would classify some college athletes as employees.

"College athletes are already treated like employees: They provide a valuable service in exchange for compensation in the form of scholarships and grants-in-aid that they lose if they do not perform the job as specified by their colleges," read a summary of the legislation. "This past year made this distinction even clearer, as college athletes continued to work and perform while their peers often were not on campus."

As employees, collegiate athletes would then have the right to organize and collectively bargain.