PIAA Pushes It To and Through the NLRB

[Freddy]

This issue, originally native to this association, I think. Was dormant, but has been reawakened in a big way it seems.
Not sure if this is going to have impact in other areas of the country.
Yours?

http://www.nfhs.org/articles/questio...n-to-unionize/

[justacoach]

The proverbial slippery slope is about to trap PIAA lacrosse officials.

Employees? Union???

I really think they have no idea what they 'bargained' for but it wont be a good outcome.

[BillyMac]

Basketball officials in Connecticut have always considered themselves independent contractors.

Now the National Labor Relations Board deems that sports officials may be considered employees. Does that mean that we can get paid sick days, paid vacations, cash bonuses for great work, etc.? Will there be an employee picnic in the summer and a holiday party in the winter? Will I have to give the boss a birthday present and a Christmas present? Will I get my own parking space? Do we get to meet around the water cooler and shoot the breeze?

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Do we get to meet around the water cooler and shoot the breeze?

BillyMac, which one is you?

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

BillyMac, which one is you?

The one in the middle.

[Player989random]

Well in good'ole VA I hope it inspires certain association commissioners to, ahem, "Back the **** off" on who I choose to work with. At the state meeting our commissioner said that a lot of other commissioners also wanted to restrict/remove dual-membership, even though VHSL requires the various associations to allow it.

Too much "employer" like power, and yet they want us to pretend we are independent contractors so they enjoy the tax benefits.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Player989random

Well in good'ole VA I hope it inspires certain association commissioners to, ahem, "Back the **** off" on who I choose to work with. At the state meeting our commissioner said that a lot of other commissioners also wanted to restrict/remove dual-membership, even though VHSL requires the various associations to allow it.

Too much "employer" like power, and yet they want us to pretend we are independent contractors so they enjoy the tax benefits.

There was a state meeting?

One organization is already in trouble for trying to prevent an official from belonging to other organizations. If the member chooses to move forward with a lawsuit the member is pretty much guaranteed to win, but the monetary award (absent a punitive award) would not cover lawyers fees.

[Player989random]

VA State HS Commissioner's Meeting. It consisted of Officiating Commissioner's across every sport/event possible. A cluster**** according to my own.

The fact that my football group is full of lawyers, yet no one has realized that restricting dual-membership and having it as a written policy is hilarious if anyone ever challenges them. Not that I'd ever do it, as the payout is pretty low.

[SC Official]

Not sure about the Virginia situation, but I do know that the NCHSAA (North Carolina) and the GHSA (Georgia) do not allow officials to be a member of more than one recognized association. In South Carolina we aren't allowed to be a member of more than one "district" of the South Carolina Basketball Officials Association (which is what the officials that work SCHSL games are members of). If we want to work in the private school league (SCISA), that's an entirely different registration process, governing body, and officials association.

[JRutledge]

The more and more I hear about these stories about what organization you can or cannot belong to because of some stated policy just gives me the appreciation to realize how well off we are here. No one decides who and what we can work for or what organization we belong to. Our state has some issues overall, but telling us where to be is not one of them. In football I belong to 3 organizations. In basketball I belong to 3 organizations as well (some are the same organization but different divisions for a particular sport. No one can tell us if or what we can belong to. Even association membership is not required, but highly recommended. Either way, I like the freedom.

Peace

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by SC Official

Not sure about the Virginia situation, but I do know that the NCHSAA (North Carolina) and the GHSA (Georgia) do not allow officials to be a member of more than one recognized association. In South Carolina we aren't allowed to be a member of more than one "district" of the South Carolina Basketball Officials Association (which is what the officials that work SCHSL games are members of). If we want to work in the private school league (SCISA), that's an entirely different registration process, governing body, and officials association.

NC and SC have different systems that include a lot of involvement from the state body from what I gather reading various posts.

In VA, games are assigned through associations who elect/select their own commissioners who negotiate contracts with schools and conferences. An association must have at least 6 public schools to be fully recognized by the VHSL and send officials to the state tournament. VHSL has absolutely no say when it comes to private schools.

A lot of politics over the last 7 years has hurt a lot of careers and caused a lot of turmoil; downright ugly at times. This will be my 6th season belonging to 2 different associations, but my first where my "local" association is fully recognized by the VHSL. Luckily there is no animosity between the 2 commissioners for whom I work.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by Raymond

NC and SC have different systems that include a lot of involvement from the state body from what I gather reading various posts.

In VA, games are assigned through associations who elect/select their own commissioners who negotiate contracts with schools and conferences. An association must have at least 6 public schools to be fully recognized by the VHSL and send officials to the state tournament. VHSL has absolutely no say when it comes to private schools.

A lot of politics over the last 7 years has hurt a lot of careers and caused a lot of turmoil; downright ugly at times. This will be my 6th season belonging to 2 different associations, but my first where my "local" association is fully recognized by the VHSL. Luckily there is no animosity between the 2 commissioners for whom I work.

I can't really speak for NC other than what I mentioned, but in SC we have our own set of issues. All varsity assignments come from Columbia rather than the local districts; there's never really been any significant push to have that changed. Since assignments aren't done locally you can only receive a maximum of two varsity DHs per week (Columbia's way of "spreading the wealth," though most games are Tuesday/Friday anyway). Our rating system rewards "good ole boys" who've been around forever and good test-takers rather than good officials. Leadership acts like it doesn't have the money to organize an evaluation program aimed at putting the best officials on the best assignments; in other words they want an easy, black-and-white numerical formula that doesn't put quality on the floor. It's embarrassing what we put out on the floor for the state semis and finals.

The SCHSL is the "organizer" of the SCBOA, so while officials technically belong to the SCBOA, there's not really any separation which creates issues regarding who should have control over which things. It's an antiquated system that is a mess without any solution that's acceptable to the masses who are just used to it being this way. We've got good people that are trying to make real change but old geezers are just standing in the way.

So, while there are plenty of politics that go on here, there just isn't as much push for change and due justice as there is in Virginia.

[Player989random]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

The more and more I hear about these stories about what organization you can or cannot belong to because of some stated policy just gives me the appreciation to realize how well off we are here. No one decides who and what we can work for or what organization we belong to. Our state has some issues overall, but telling us where to be is not one of them. In football I belong to 3 organizations. In basketball I belong to 3 organizations as well (some are the same organization but different divisions for a particular sport. No one can tell us if or what we can belong to. Even association membership is not required, but highly recommended. Either way, I like the freedom.

Peace

Well every sport isn't locked in political gridlock. Football simply has a power-hungry individual at the reins, and the basketball groups in NoVA are fighting for dominance.

While you can't work for another football group, you can get sent out west to help one out. Why? Because the boss made the decision instead of you(I wonder why no one wants to join ). My basketball association doesn't care if you work for the rival group C, but if C finds out, they pull your schedule.

Believe it or not the other sports are cool with multiple memberships, but soccer referees have always been a tight-knit group in my experience and the baseball umpires have a monopoly from Stafford, VA to Baltimore, MD. Smaller sports like hockey and lacrosse simply can't afford a turf war.

[chapmaja]

I'm glad I don't work down there.

In Michigan it is clear we are independent contractors and we are allowed to be members of as many officiating associations as we want.

The hassle sometimes comes in for assigners. Michigan's Right to Work Law (Aka right to steal services from the union), actually does impact assigners and officials.)

Assigners can require an official to be a member of an officials association, but can't require an official to be a member of a specific officials association. If we (I do assign two sports), violate these rules we can be sued (it happened to an assigner last year) and be barred from assigning MHSAA contests as all assigners are required to be registered with the MHSAA.