That Union Thing
Unions and Professional Athletes
A union for professional athletes? Why would someone making huge sums of money need a union? In fact, actors, doctors, performing artists, and athletes are union members in higher percentages than other occupations.
Major League baseball players, possibly one of the most exploited groups of workers, began their quest for union representation in 1885 with the Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players. It took players almost 100 years to address their primary concern: the reserve system.
Baseball was the only sport exempt from anti-trust laws, and since 1868 a reserve clause stated that players could only deal with the club that originally hired them, thus creating “indentured ball players” who could not bargain for their fair share of the industry’s profits.
After numerous attempts at unionism, the Major League Baseball Players Association was formed in 1968 with the assistance of the United Steel Workers, and they successfully continued the fight for free agency, the ability of players to sell their services to the highest bidder.
The United Steel Workers taught them that they have greater leverage if they act in unison, and ball players continue to fight for equality and fair play in their industry. Other professionals also know first-hand the power of solidarity.
Former president of Actors' Equity, Ralph Bellamy, said it best: “There wouldn't be a profession if it weren't for the unions. Before the unions, actors were equated with thieves and prostitutes. It was only through their unions that they gained some status, and had to be dealt with as a profession by employers and the public. It was only because of their unions that they couldn't be ignored.” (Douglas, The Unionized Professoriate (1986), 48).
Publix Workers Vote on Joining Union
This June nearly 1000 workers at the Publix distribution center in Deerfield Beach voted on representation by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in an NLRB election. Results are not yet known due to a pending appeal.
Broward Elections Office in Organizing Campaign
The Federation of Public Employees, led by Executive Director and Broward AFL-CIO President Dan Reynolds, has begun a campaign to unionize employees of the Broward Supervisor of Elections. The Elections office was not surprised at this development, given the financial difficulties the office has faced, as well as the uncertainty over job security. The Federation represents employees of the Broward Clerk’s and Sheriff’s Offices, nonteaching personnel at Broward public schools, and others.
From AFL-CIO Work in Progress:
AFSCME’S FLORIDA SUNSHINE—More than 1,000 workers at the University of North Florida and Florida A&M University are part of AFSCME Council 79 again, four months after Gov. Jeb Bush (R) broke union contracts at Florida public campuses by making the campuses the employer of record instead of the state. Gov. Bush’s attack on university workers’ statewide contract, which AFSCME is challenging in court, was part of a sweeping overhaul he initiated in 2001 aimed at weakening longstanding civil service protections for thousands of public employees. Also, a unit of 325 faculty members at the University of West Florida in Pensacola overwhelmingly voted for union representation by the United Faculty of Florida/AFT/NEA on June 4.
A GRAND IBT WIN FOR WORKERS—In Orlando, Fla., the majority of 879 bus drivers, bus aides, cafeteria workers, maintenance and custodial workers voted to join IBT Local 385.
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