Labor News & Commentary February 6, 2024 NLRB rules that Dartmouth basketball players can unionize & more

[Omaha Steve]

https://onlabor.org/february-6-2024/

By Sunah Chang

Sunah Chang is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s news and commentary: Las Vegas hospitality workers call off their strike after reaching tentative agreements, the NLRB rules that Dartmouth basketball players can unionize, and German transportation workers continue to press for improved wages and working conditions.

The Nevada Culinary Workers Union Local 226, the union representing thousands of hospitality workers in Las Vegas, called off its Monday morning walkout after reaching tentative agreements with six more hotel-casinos in Downtown Las Vegas. The strike would have created work stoppages in several Las Vegas hotels as the city gears up to host the upcoming Super Bowl—an event that is expected to bring 330,000 people to the city this week. The union has not yet reached a contract agreement with Virgin Hotels Las Vegas but has agreed to extend talks to avert a strike. The union anticipates reaching an agreement with Virgin Hotels in the coming weeks.

Following the tentative agreements, President Biden met with and congratulated union members at the Vdara Hotel as part of his campaign trail leading up to today’s Democratic primary in Nevada.

Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that athletes on the men’s basketball team at Dartmouth College are eligible to unionize. Laura Sacks, NLRB’s regional director in Boston, determined that Dartmouth basketball players qualify as “employees” within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act and have the right to hold a union election. This is the first decision of its kind since NLRB’s general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, issued a memorandum in 2021 outlining that college athletes should be classified as employees under the NLRA.

FULL story: https://onlabor.org/february-6-2024/