With Free Agency Won, NFLPA Ready to Recertify as a Union

The NFL Players Assn. has decided to resume as a labor union this year, Executive Director Gene Upshaw said from Hawaii on Saturday.

A player majority wants Upshaw to petition the National Labor Relations Board for reinstatement as soon as possible, he said.

The NFLPA decertified as a trade union two years ago in order to appear in court as a trade association, a status that denied the NFL its historic exemption to antitrust legislation.

As a decertified body, the NFLPA, competing as an equal with the NFL before Minneapolis federal Judge David Doty, won unrestricted free agency last fall for most of its five-year members.

But now, Upshaw said, it is to the advantage of the league as a whole if the players reformulate their union. For example, to withstand challenges to the college player draft this month, the NFL needs the collective-bargaining approval of a union.

The athletes need it to bargain collectively for benefits. Their dues as union members will exceed $500 a week, among the highest in the labor movement.

Upshaw is meeting with 54 NFL player representatives and other players this week.