Belabored Podcast #48: Athlete-Students’ Big Win

Is the era of the student athlete over? This week on Belabored, Lee Adler joins us to discuss the groundbreaking NLRB decision that Northwestern University’s football players are employees and thus eligible to form a union. Plus: a growing campaign to opt out of standardized testing, the difference between unemployment and retirement, the struggle against Amazon in Europe, and more.

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Is the era of the student athlete over? This week on Belabored, we discuss the groundbreaking decision by National Labor Relations Board Region 13 that Northwestern University’s football players are employees and thus eligible to form a union. We are joined to break down the decision by Lee Adler of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the Worker Institute, who discusses the work college athletes do, what impact this decision will have on athletes outside of the "major" sports, and the power shifts facing the NCAA.

We also look at a growing campaign to opt out of standardized testing, the difference between unemployment and retirement, the struggle against Amazon in Europe, the latest win for port truck drivers, and more.

News:

National Opt-Out Campaign Begins

Fighting Amazon for a Living Wage

Can Dropping Out of the Labor Force Make You Happier?

Another Win for Port Truckers: CA Labor Office Sides with Drivers

Conversation with Lee Adler

The Northwestern University Football Union and the NCAA’s Death Spiral

NLRB Decision very well-reasoned

If Men Get Paid to Play College Sports, Title IX Says Women Do, Too

Infographic: Is Your State’s Highest Paid Employee a Coach?

Argh, I Wish I’d Written That!

Sarah: David Dayen, "Not All Democrats Share Obama’s Budget Priorities," Al Jazeera America