CAPA union proponents share message with Congress

WASHINGTON — Former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter, face of the effort to unionize the university's football team, said Thursday he's optimistic players will vote approval.

"I'm very confident. … Obviously, they made a huge pledge just to sign the cards, and really the hard part is over now," Colter said during a media briefing at the Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization. "All you've got to do is vote yes and really set the rest of the players up around the nation and the future generations up for success. That's what it boils down to.''

The vote is scheduled for April 25. Wildcats players with athletic scholarships with eligibility remaining are eligible to vote. Colter finished his Northwestern career last season and is training for a potential NFL career.

Last week, Peter Sung Ohr, regional director of the Chicago office of the National Labor Relations Board, ruled Northwestern football players on scholarships are employees of the university and entitled to vote on whether they want a union. Northwestern has said it will appeal. It has until April 9 to file for a review with the NLRB board in Washington, according to the NLRB.

The petition to the NLRB was filed by the College Athlete Players Association (CAPA), headed by President Ramogi Huma, who was a UCLA linebacker in the 1990s. Huma and Colter are co-founders of the group.

Huma on Thursday again stressed that the effort to unionize is not about seeking wages for college football players.

His group's agenda includes reducing concussion risks, raising scholarship amounts to cover "basic necessities" of attending college, allowing players to benefit from commercial opportunities, increasing graduation rates and easing transfer restrictions.

"There are a lot of misconceptions in the media especially about this being about salaries and things like. … We've never endorsed and advocated salaries. It's about basic protections," Huma said.

He said he and Colter made that point this week in meetings with members of Congress.

Huma also acknowleged they met with legislators to lobby against any potential legislation that might strip college athletes of union bargaining rights.

"Honestly, we played a little bit of defense because with this ruling college athletes now have asserted their rights, and it's been verified by the NLRB regional director… The last thing we want to see is the NCAA … come up here and use their lobbying power to change the laws and restrict players of their rights," Huma said.

Colter, who missed the Senior Bowl all-star game because of ankle surgery, has been training in Florida. He is preparing for a personal workout for NFL scouts. He is facing a potential transition to wide receiver.

"Obviously, my other priority has been to achieve my lifelong dream of making it to the NFL," said Colter, a two-year co-captain at Northwestern. "I hope the NFL sees this as a sign of leadership, a sign of me protecting my brothers, my family. It's really what every football team is, just trying to protect those guys, set those guys up for success."