Besides Pay, What Do You Get?

[Reffing Rev.]

One school somewhere in NE, I cant remember where we were actually expected to use the same lockerroom/showerroom as the cheerleaders. Interpret that however you want.

[DesertZebra]

Originally Posted by Reffing Rev.

One school somewhere in NE, I cant remember where we were actually expected to use the same lockerroom/showerroom as the cheerleaders. Interpret that however you want.

Yowza! That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.... or a penthouse forum letter.

[parepat]

We have an interesting system in my midwestern state. We are licensed by the State but are independant contractors with the schools. Our license, however, prohibits us from organizing or negotiating as a group. Thus, we are completely at the mercy of the schools themselves. Since the schools see us as a necessary evil, they have no interest in paying a fair amount. We are paid on average 55 per varsity game with no travel expenses paid.

I believe this to be a clear anti-trust violation by the state that no one has challenged.

[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).

[trocared]

Originally Posted by DesertZebra

Yowza! That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.... or a penthouse forum letter.

Dear Penthouse Forum,
I'd never thought this would ever happen to me, but one Friday night before a football game....


Seriously...it looks like we have it pretty good here in northwest iowa. Varsity games range from $80-$95, we get treated quite well by the AD's, and the checks are generally on top of the cooler (filled with water, candy bars, gaterade, etc.). Lower level games can range from $60 for jr. high games to $85 for frosh./soph. double headers.
I believe we get treated so well because we live in a rural area and have a long history with the school's we officiate. Many times we will officiate for coaches we went to college with, played against, and even been coached by.
cheers,
tro