Over 100 women's college basketball players join union drive with UCAA

More than a hundred female NCAA basketball athletes have signed authorization cards, launching a collective bargaining effort through the United College Athletes Association.

The United College Athletes Association revealed that more than 100 women’s NCAA basketball players have signed union authorization cards, making this the largest single-sport cohort to pursue collective bargaining. Ten of the thirteen athletes on Oregon State’s women’s roster filed a petition on Friday seeking formal recognition as employees, initially targeting voluntary acknowledgment by the university and, failing that, a petition to the Oregon Employment Relations Board.

The campaign aims to establish separate bargaining divisions for each sport, eventually expanding to conference-wide units and a universal agreement for all college athletes. Executive director Andrew Cooper envisions future negotiations at the league level, while interim UCAA president Oluchi Okananwa highlighted goals of better pay, academic safeguards, and safety standards. Advisory board members such as NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke and WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike lend professional-union experience to the effort.