USW Announces Support for Arena Football Players Union

More information, contact: Tim Waters, USW – 412-999-3587

PITTSBURGH – The United Steelworkers (USW) today, following meetings with the leadership of the Arena Football League Players Union (AFLPU), announced that the union will provide key assistance to the AFLPU’s drive to negotiate a fair labor agreement with team owners.

The union said it will provide support for expert attorneys specializing in this field and strategic advice to the AFLPU, after team owners last week fired AFLPU members who refused to withdraw from the union hours before the first game of the 2012 season. 

USW International President Leo W. Gerard compared the actions of the team owners to union-busting tactics employers used in the nineteenth century.

“We will not abide owners who confiscate players’ belongings out of their hotel rooms and apartments, strand them hundreds or thousands of miles from their homes and fire them from their jobs because they refuse to withdraw from their union,” Gerard said. “These attacks are an insult to workers everywhere and U.S. labor law, and our union will support these players moving forward in their fight for justice and dignity.”

Gerard said that the USW will continue meetings with AFLPA members and leaders in the coming weeks to insure that the Arena Football League and its owners are held accountable for their actions.

The USW represents about 850,000 working men and women in the United States and Canada in a wide variety of industries, ranging from glass making to mining, paper, steel, tire and rubber and other manufacturing environments to the public sector, service and health care industries. It is also the primary partner of the National College Players Association, an organization dedicated to reforming the NCAA for the purpose of improving the lives of hardworking young athletes.

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