NFL Players to Join State Federations
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It happens too often. Workers become more productive, often risking serious injury on the job, and make the owners more money. But instead of sharing the wealth, the owners demand givebacks and threaten to shut down the company if the workers don’t agree.
The only difference this time is that the workers include such household names as Drew Brees, Ray Lewis, Peyton Manning and James Harrison—all stars of the National Football League. NFL team owners are threatening to lock out players next season, and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) is joining with the other workers in the stadiums and the rest of the union movement to fight management’s greed. Today, the NFLPA announced that its members will fully affiliate with all AFL-CIO state federations and the central labor councils where their NFL teams are based.
NFL Players Selects Smith as Executive Director
Washington, D.C., attorney DeMaurice Smith was selected today as executive director of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). He succeeds the late Gene Upshaw, who died in August 2008. The NFL Player Representatives unanimously chose Smith to serve a three-year term.
Smith, 45, is a trial lawyer and litigation partner at the District of Columbia law firm Patton Boggs. A former assistant U.S. attorney, Smith previously served as counsel to then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder in the U.S. Department of Justice.
In a press release, Smith says:
I’m humbled by their decision. I’m honored and proud to lead a great group of men. I think we understand the challenges that face us but we also understand the strength of our unity.
