[OverAndBack]

Who's the license with? What's the authority of the "license" that prohibits organizing or negotiating as a group?

I am generally not a labor union type guy (totally understand the reasons for workers to be safe and have a certain quality of work environment, but we all have to admit there are some unintended consequences that unscrupulous people can use to make things unfair). But I wonder what would happen if a state's officials just all decided that they were going to band together and if you didn't like it, you could have Joe Blow officiate your games for a year and see how you liked it.

Of course, there would be those who would cross the line - there will always be some people who won't go along with a union's activities for whatever reason.

I'm not advocating a Norma Rae situation here, I'm just thinking out loud - if coaches and administrators want quality officials, the quality officials in some areas may have to take a short-term hit for a long-term gain. I don't know if $55 or $60 a game or the couple grand you might make in a season is enough to bother about, but it's an interesting concept.

And I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know that I would throw terms like "clear anti-trust violation" out there if I'm not sure about it. Do they, in some respects, have an advantageous market position? Absolutely. Are we going to unionize to make sure we have a towel and a Gatorade? I'm not sure.

I think one's state association needs to recognize the work we do and mandate that its member schools adhere to certain minimum standards. It seems to me that MOST of those standards could be easily adhered to at little actual cost to the schools.

Pay is a whole 'nother can of worms. That's always going to be the sticking point. We feel our services are worth more, obviously. They feel they can get five guys to do this for what they're paying (and they're probably right).