The National Labor Relations Board unanimously dismissed Aug. 17 a petition from a group of Northwestern University football players to form a union, in the process declining to weigh in on the safety and health concerns the players expressed.
In a 5-0 ruling, the board said it wouldn’t examine the case because doing so wouldn’t promote stability in labor relations (Northwestern Univ., 362 N.L.R.B. No. 167, 8/17/15).
“[The decision] makes it much more difficult for them to have a voice in terms of their own physical safety,” Alexia Kulwiec, an assistant professor at the University of ...