Kansas City Women Drive College Basketball Unionization
Jada Williams and Grace Slaughter, both senior players from Kansas City, have emerged as the faces of a nationwide push to unionize women’s college basketball. Their effort, centered on the United College Athletes Association, aims to secure collective‑bargaining agreements that would give athletes a voice in transfers, compensation and eligibility rules.
The UCAA now counts more than 100 women’s basketball players across the country, who are seeking to negotiate contracts that treat them as employees rather than amateurs. A recent petition filed by ten of thirteen Oregon State players with the Oregon Employment Relations Board underscores the growing momentum.
The movement is not limited to basketball. Stanford football players have recently formed a campus chapter of the College Football Players Association to pursue similar collective‑bargaining goals within their sport.
Two years ago, over 100 women’s college basketball players signed a letter to the Big Ten and SEC urging a formal process for addressing athlete concerns, a call that has now evolved into organized union drives.
The UCAA’s interim executive committee includes nine current women’s basketball players, among them Williams from LSU and Slaughter from Missouri, highlighting the grassroots nature of the initiative.
Williams, a senior point guard, transferred to LSU after stints at Arizona and Iowa State and graduated from Blue Springs High School in Kansas City. Slaughter, a senior guard for the Missouri Tigers, is widely regarded as one of the program’s most accomplished players.
Both athletes credit a collective‑bargaining agreement as the most viable path to reclaim control over their athletic careers, including decisions about transfers, name‑image‑likeness earnings and scholarship rules.
The unionization push has attracted seasoned advocates to its advisory board, including NWSLPA executive director Nneka Ogwumike, former NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and former NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth, lending legal and strategic expertise.
If successful, a collective‑bargaining agreement would classify college athletes as employees, a status universities have historically avoided despite the billions generated by college sports.
The 2015 attempt by Northwestern football players to unionize was rejected by the National Labor Relations Board, and Dartmouth’s men’s basketball team ended its union effort in late 2024 after changes in NLRB leadership, illustrating the legal challenges ahead.
Unionization efforts also aim to address the complexities introduced by name‑image‑likeness rights, the transfer portal and evolving eligibility standards, seeking a sustainable framework for college athletics.