Leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee filed an amicus brief on Thursday that opposed unionization of college athletes in a case before the National Labor Relations Board.
Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Senate HELP Committee Members Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) signed the amicus brief on behalf of Northwestern University in the case.
“Congress never intended for college athletes to be considered employees under the National Labor Relations Act, and doing so is incompatible with the student-university relationship,” the senators said. “The profound and inherent differences between the student-university and employee-employer relationship makes employee status unworkable both as a matter of law and in practice.”
The Senate HELP Committee is responsible for oversight of colleges and universities and the National Labor Relations Act, which allows employees to organize and bargain collectively.
In the amicus brief, the senators argued that college athletes are not considered employees under the National Labor Relations Act.
“As a matter of both national labor and educational policy, the congressional committee members urge the board to find that grant-in-aid scholarship football players are not employees,” the legislators said. “The profound and inherent differences between the student-university and employee-employer relationship makes employee status unworkable both as a matter of law and in practice.”
Leaders of the House Education and the Workforce Committee also signed the amicus brief.