Men's basketball players at Dartmouth College voted 13-2 to join a union Tuesday, an unprecedented move that could signal major changes in the multi-billion-dollar world of American college sports.
The National Labor Relations Board supervised the vote, which saw the players join Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 560, which represents other Dartmouth workers.
An NLRB regional director ruled last month that players were school employees, although Dartmouth officials said they filed an appeal of that decision Tuesday.
The vote represents their first action as college employees and first negotiating step, striking at the amateurism rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association with the potential to reshape the financial landscape of US college football and basketball.
"Today is a big day for our team," players Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil said in a statement to reporters. "We stuck together all season and won this election.
"It is self-evident that we, as students, can also be both campus workers and union members. Dartmouth seems to be stuck in the past. It's time for the age of amateurism to end."
The first steps in that direction have come in recent years with legal victories allowing players to profit beyond scholarships from use of their name, image or likeness.
But players remain unpaid for games that produce huge television revenues for schools and often play under coaches who make millions of dollars.
"These players are our members and we welcome them warmly into not only Local 560, but the entire Dartmouth labor coalition," said union local president Chris Peck.
"We're all looking forward to standing in solidarity as they begin to negotiate their historic first contract."
Dartmouth officials could press their objection to calling athletes employees into federal court, a lengthy fight likely to delay collective bargaining agreement talks until long after current players have graduated.
Dartmouth said the college has been proud to build productive relationships with the five unions that are part of the campus community, noting its "deep respect" for the school's 1,500 union colleagues.
"In this isolated circumstance, however, the students on the men's basketball team are not in any way employed by Dartmouth. For Ivy League students who are varsity athletes, academics are of primary importance, and athletic pursuit is part of the educational experience," the school said in a statement.
"Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate. We, therefore, do not believe unionization is appropriate."
- 'A powerful voice' -
The vote came hours before the Dartmouth Big Green were set to host Harvard in their final regular-season game.
Haskins and Myrthil said they intend to press their unionization cause to Ivy League rivals.
"Let's work together to create a less exploitative business model for college sports," they said.
"Over the next few months, we will continue to talk to other athletes at Dartmouth and throughout the Ivy League about forming unions and working together to advocate for athletes' rights and well-being."
Mary Kay Henry, international president of the SEIU, declared: "These young men will go down as one of the greatest basketball teams in all of history. The Ivy League is where the whole scandalous model of nearly free labor in college sports was born and that's where it's going to die."
The victory, she said, "is about way more than sports, it's about people who need a union getting one."
Professional athlete unions offered support as well, including Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark.
"By voting to unionize, these athletes have an unprecedented seat at the table and a powerful voice with which to negotiate for rights and benefits that have been ignored for far too long," Clark said.