Mary Schmitt Boyer, the basketball writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, has written an article about the impact of the Players Union’s disclaimer of interest months after the start of the lockout. Plain Dealer Article 11-15-2011.pdf In it, she quotes me on certain aspects of the labor exception to the antitrust laws. She did not elaborate on the differences I noted between sports unions and conventional unions. Two of those are 1. the perpetuation of the role of “stars” in sports unions, compared with most unions, where all employees are placed on the same pay schedule (there are not “Star butchers” who get paid many times what less skilled butchers are paid; and 2. the institution of agents, who actually do the negotiations on wages for their clients–something most unions do themselves, and which is the assigned role of unions under the Labor Management Relations Act: to negotiate over wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment.
