Dartmouth Men’s Basketball Team Votes To Form First Union In College Sports

Members of the Dartmouth College men’s basketball team voted to form the very first union in a college sports program on Tuesday, delivering a boost to organized labor and another potential blow to the collegiate amateurism model.

The union election held at the Ivy League school in Hanover, New Hampshire, could prove to be historic, but the legal battle over whether the players can bargain collectively is far from over.

Dartmouth’s trustees have disputed the athletes’ legal status as employees eligible to unionize. It could be years before the case is resolved at the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees private-sector union elections, and possibly federal court afterwards.

But for now, the players have made clear they intend to bargain over their working conditions as part of the Service Employees International Union Local 560, the same group that represents cooks, custodians, groundskeepers and other workers on campus.

The vote tally was 13-2 in the union’s favor.

“These players are our members and we welcome them warmly,” the union’s president, Chris Peck, said in a statement. “We’re all looking forward to standing in solidarity as they begin to negotiate their historic first contract.”

Dartmouth said in a statement that it was “proud to build productive relationships” with its unions, but that it doesn’t believe the basketball players are workers.

“In this isolated circumstance… the students on the men’s basketball team are not in any way employed by Dartmouth,” the school said. “For Ivy League students who are varsity athletes, academics are of primary importance, and athletic pursuit is part of the educational experience.”

The National Collegiate Athletics Association, the governing body for college