One year ago, a judge ruled that athletes from Northwestern University could form a union. Since then, the ruling has been stayed while legal proceedings and appeals continued. On Monday, that decision was overturned, after a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board:
In its unanimous decision, the labor board skirted the issue of whether the players are employees and left open the door to other college athletes winning the right to unionize.
The board cited the unique nature of college sports in saying it would foster instability to permit Northwestern football players to form a union while players elsewhere in the National Collegiate Athletic Association are not.