T&F Athletes To Unionize

[guru]

Announced today. About damn time.

http://espn.go.com/olympics/trackandfie ... unionizing

IF they're truly united on this - and it seems they are - $#!T$ about to get real for the alphabet soup fatcats.

[dl]

I'm all in favor of athletes organizing, but, while I'm no labor expert, it seems to me that unions work best when there's one group with whom they negotiate. Who will that be in this instance?

[Conor Dary]

Woody Guthrie would have loved it.

There once was a union maid, she never was afraid
Of goons and ginks and company finks and the deputy sheriffs who made the raid.
She went to the union hall when a meeting it was called,
And when the Legion boys come 'round
She always stood her ground.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union.
Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

[guru]

.... it seems to me that unions work best when there's one group with whom they negotiate. Who will that be in this instance?

Considering the main concern seems to be the restrictive sponsorship issue, then certainly the IAAF, especially with a WC next year.

[bad hammy]

Unionizing athletes is the only way that T&Fs 99%ers are ever going to have a chance of a livable income via the sport. The trick is to make sure the 1% is with them, and this looks like a good start.

Seems like Nick Symmonds was on the right track . . .

[Spickard]

Yohan Blake? USAIN BOLT???? I thought this was about selfish, sniveling American athletes?

[MJR]

If they can get the Kenyan & Ethiopian distance runners signed & committed, the game is over for the IAAF and IOC on the sponsorship/slavery issue.

[rsb2]

They are all just a bunch of journeymen, who cares?

[mcgato]

I tend to agree with Sanya that this should have happened 20 years ago. Actually more than 20 years ago. In tennis and golf, the players seem to be pretty much in control of the product. Maybe not in control, but they have great power in the goings on of the tours. In track, the IAAF seems to be in control of the product. The athletes seem to be beholden to whatever the IAAF decides. And the IOC.

I'm hopeful, but there are so many issues out there that it is going to be wading through a minefield.

[odelltrclan]

Actually, I think this is a terrible idea. You have to have labor in high demand and a thriving market. Track interest is waning and this is only going to make things worse. Stick a fork in the sport as a profession. It will soon be the way of the dinosaur with this.

[GDAWG]

The international athletes joining the Track and Field Athletes Association:

http://trackandfieldathletesassociation ... es-global/

Including some big names like Blake, Bolt, SAFP, Rudisha and Sanchez.

[18.99s]

Actually, I think this is a terrible idea. You have to have labor in high demand and a thriving market. Track interest is waning and this is only going to make things worse. Stick a fork in the sport as a profession. It will soon be the way of the dinosaur with this.

It depends what they're asking for.

If they demand more prize money and appearance fees, they'll have a problem.

However if they only want to be allowed to wear an extra logo or two at meets, and be allowed to promote their sponsors during the Olympics via social media, they might get somewhere. And without triggering any sky-is-falling scenarios.

[18.99s]

Since when did Lalova become Italian?

[gh]

That 8.0 shaker on the Richter scale just registered in Italy was Primo Nebiolo turning over in his grave.

I remember a press conference from the early '90s when the IAAF announced some new bit of benevolence towards the athletes and somebody in the room innocently asked, "Does this mean that the athletes will form a union?"

I never saw him more apoplectic. He thundered back (and I obviously paraphrase after all these years), "There will NEVER be a union for athletes! NEVER! We are the IAAF and we are in charge."

The subject was pursued no farther.

[vip]

I'm all for athletes getting what they can and while they can get it. But I don't understand why they're trying to get the public behind their cause. What exactly is in it for us? I'm not trying to be a wise guy, but will SRR and Symmonds join me in my next fight to get a raise?

Also, nothing will happen unless Nike approves, since we all know the swoosh runs the sport.

[EME1980]

Since when did Lalova become Italian?

She married Simone Collio, the Italian sprinter recently. I guess she has taken Italian citizenship if that list is correct.

[j-a-m]

Don't even know where to start commenting on this nonsense.

To begin with, does the track & field athletes association website say that they're a union (as opposed to an association)? Does it even say that anywhere?

[Quick Silver]

Most track and field careers are too short for this to work very well.

Quick Silver
Hong Kong

[MJR]

Most track and field careers are too short for this to work very well.

Quick Silver
Hong Kong

The average NFL career is 4 years and it works fine for them.

[Rye Catcher]

Big mistake. This means tenure will be more important than performance, just like teachers. It means we will be seeing geezers hanging in there just because they have tenure. Oh how fun.

[j-a-m]

Big mistake. This means tenure will be more important than performance, just like teachers. It means we will be seeing geezers hanging in there just because they have tenure. Oh how fun.

Agreed with respect to unionizing. Still not though if that's what's happening, or if it's just a sensationalist espn.com headline.

[Pego]

People of the same profession formed associations since the time immemorial. It used to be called guild, now it is called unions. Powers-that-be don't like it as they never liked it for obvious reasons.

[j-a-m]

People of the same profession formed associations since the time immemorial. It used to be called guild, now it is called unions.

And since time immemorial the main purpose of guilds/unions has been to discriminate against outsiders/competitors.

[Mighty Favog]

Mmmm...I sense some comments that should belong in the Free Speech forum. I'll not pile on here, even though I'm very much on one side of the argument.

In terms of what the organization can do, besides advocate for changes in advertising restrictions, I could see it operating like tennis' ATP. One of the first things that organization worked on was a meaningful rankings system so that entry into tournaments was based more on accomplishments and less on connections and other such things. We discussed such an issue at length with regard to the Diamond League.

[mump boy]

I'm all for unions, i'm practically a communist. What i'm not a fan of is grandstanding, self aggrandising athletes, picking inopportune moments to do the dirty work of their billion dollar corporate paymasters

A properly run, professional union for any workers can only be a good thing but if they think they are doing themselves any favours with this nonsense sponsorship thing, they are mistaken

[j-a-m]

The international athletes joining the Track and Field Athletes Association:

http://trackandfieldathletesassociation ... es-global/

Including some big names like Blake, Bolt, SAFP, Rudisha and Sanchez.

That seems to be the official announcement. And all I get from that is that some international athletes have joined an athletes association previously only open to U.S. athletes. How exactly that translates into the sensationalist espn.com headline, I still don't know.

[Ned Ryerson]

The average NFL career is 4 years and it works fine for them.

Yeah, because there's a big part of the public that is very unhappy if there's no NFL season. It's also a world where you have players being paid a salary by a team that's working within the framework of a league. Can you say the same about track and field?

Say these guys aren't happy about sponsorship rules. What are they going to do? Strike? Their window of visibility is so short, pretty much 15 days every four years, that most people wouldn't notice.

I know these guys think they can be like tennis but it's not going to work. Tennis has four world championships every year that everyone wants to win, and all the top athletes are going after the same thing. There are a few thousand track athletes at the world championships or Olympic Games all going for their own events.

Can anyone tell me if all these top guys would be willing to sit out a season or two and give up all their sports related income during that time and that no athletes would cross the picket line to fill their spots at the championships?

[gh]

I'm all for athletes getting what they can and while they can get it. But I don't understand why they're trying to get the public behind their cause. What exactly is in it for us? I'm not trying to be a wise guy, but will SRR and Symmonds join me in my next fight to get a raise?

Also, nothing will happen unless Nike approves, since we all know the swoosh runs the sport.

Nike will certainly have some say, but it could also be argued that so long as Bolt is the sport and Bolt is Puma's, it's Puma that really has the whip hand at this juncture.

But the real power resides with the organizations that run the major meets on the circuit (by that I mean the local group of clubs that run Stockholm, or LCZ Zürich). They're the ones who take the financial risk in putting these things on each year.

Is an athlete's union willing to assume some of that risk? If not, expect some serious pushback on the the meets being told who they can and can't invite into their meets. Their job is not to lose money and put on the best show they think possible. Without these people the sport dies. Just as it would without the athletes.

[j-a-m]

I know these guys think they can be like tennis but it's not going to work. Tennis has four world championships every year that everyone wants to win, and all the top athletes are going after the same thing. There are a few thousand track athletes at the world championships or Olympic Games all going for their own events.

And tennis isn't a true Olympic sport. The bureaucracy in t&f, on the other hand, starts all the way at the top with the IOC.

[dl]

One of the first things that organization worked on was a meaningful rankings system so that entry into tournaments was based more on accomplishments and less on connections and other such things.

That would be terrible. Meets would be even more uniform than they are now, with no consideration given to local stars, match-ups, diversity of nations, etc. You'd have steeples with nothing but Kenyans, 100s with Americans and Jamaicans only. Wait, we already have that, and it's not working!

[Conor Dary]

I thought this was more about the advertising on uniforms. I think it is going to be a loser if the athletes are going to be telling the promoters who is competing.

[lonewolf]

I thought this is was more about the advertising on uniforms. I think it is going to be a loser if the athletes are going to be telling the promoters who is competing.

Concur.

[toyracer]

I'm all for athletes getting what they can and while they can get it. But I don't understand why they're trying to get the public behind their cause. What exactly is in it for us? I'm not trying to be a wise guy, but will SRR and Symmonds join me in my next fight to get a raise?

It is easy to understand why.

What good is a NFL player's strike if the public isn't behind the players?

How much sympathy did the NFL-watching public have for the regular officials before the season started? Right now support is on the rise for the regular officials, but only because the substitutes have been making too many mistakes in too many games. If the substitute officials get their level up to the regular standard and make less mistakes then support will fade for the regulars, and their voice will be weaker when they negotiate.

The same applies here. If there is no public support at all for an athletes association then it doesn't have much bite with its bark. Without any public support it is dead in the water.

That's why they are trying to get the public behind their cause.

What's in it for you? Hard to answer that. But then again, can't you support a position or principle without being a direct beneficiary?

[guru]

I think it is going to be a loser if the athletes are going to be telling the promoters who is competing.

Khadevis Robinson, current president of the TFAA, made it clear that is not what they're about.

[MJR]

This is 100% about the athletes being able to control their own branding and financial decisions. Right now, the IOC and IAAF have an unbalanced level of control over what an athlete can do to earn a living as a professional because those groups still are designed to lord over an amateur sports world. They haven't changed with the times. The athletes are now trying to force that change and get a seat at the table for all discussions that directly affect their branding rights and earning power. This isn't about hand-outs, its about the right of self-determination, which has been denied to them. If the TFAA can come to the table as a unified voice across the sport, they'l be able affect positive change to benefit every athlete and the sport will get an influx of financial & spectator interest as a result. The only thing stopping it now is the continued head in the sand mindset of the "leaders" in charge of the alphabet groups.