The effort to unionize UFC fighters has lost steam as the main office of the National Labor Relations Board is looking at the charge brought against the property by the union effort’s most vocal proponent.
MMA fighter Leslie Smith said that she is still talking to fighters and working to get them to sign union authorization cards, but the reception has changed since the UFC cut her from its roster in April. In order for the NLRB to look at unionizing UFC fighters, Smith must collect cards from roughly 200 of the organization’s more than 600 fighters.
“Everything has slowed down,” she said last week.”It’s either slowed drastically or completely stopped — the card collecting.”
After the UFC declined to renew Smith’s contract, she filed an unfair labor charge alleging it was retaliating against her for her union organizing efforts. As previously reported, this case could be a game-changer in whether MMA fighters can unionize, as only employees can file NLRB charges. The UFC contends fighters are independent contractors. Employees can unionize, but independent contractors cannot.
Smith seemed to score a victory June 29 when the Philadelphia region of the NLRB, which was investigating the case, informed Lucas Middlebrook, an attorney with Smith’s effort, that it had made “a determination of merit” in the case. That meant it would file a complaint against the UFC for a case to be heard before an administrative law judge if the parties couldn’t settle, Middlebrook said.
But later that day, the same investigator from the Philadelphia region called Middlebrook back and told him the case was being kicked up to the NLRB’s Division of Advice and no longer moving forward in that region.
“It’s very uncommon to have a region make its own merit determination and then have [the Division of] Advice come in on its own and take it away,” said Middlebrook, who specializes in representing unions and employees. The Division of Advice looks at legal questions, such as whether the charging party is an employee, because the NLRB can’t get involved in situations involving independent contractors.
The UFC is represented in this matter by the law firm of Morgan Lewis & Bockius. The UFC declined to make anyone available for an interview or answer questions last week. But the UFC pointed to a statement it issued in June, stating there had been “no decision by the general counsel” of the NLRB on whether it could proceed with a complaint and that the “UFC presented a strong record of Leslie Smith’s status as an independent contractor.”
Last week, Middlebrook was scheduled to meet with NLRB officials from the Division of Advice and was told NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb might be at the meeting. The session is expected to be question-and-answer, and Middlebrook said he was told one of the questions pertained to whether Smith could do work, other than be a fighter, when she was under contract to the UFC.
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.
