"The soul of unionism, whether we're talking coal miners in the 19th century, janitors today or NBA players, is solidarity," said University of California professor Harley Shaiken, who studies labor issues. "You are working together to improve everyone's position."
Union members typically work for decades, which gives them plenty of time to protect long-term interests. But professional athletes have brief careers, lose their union vote after their final game, and must depend upon subsequent generations to safeguard their retirement interests.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday March 01, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 54 words Type of Material: Correction
Sports pensions: An article in Tuesday's Sports section said former NBA player Bob Elliott was 55 and lived in Phoenix. He is 51 and lives in Tucson. The article also said Elliott earned $22,500 in his rookie year, matching the league minimum in 1977. But Elliott never disclosed his salary for that rookie season.
Federal law requires union leaders to represent the interests of current and future players rather than aging athletes, so improvements to previously negotiated benefits must be approved by current union members -- and often by the franchise owners who foot the bills.
Many old-timers argue that today's athletes and owners have a moral obligation to care for players whose sacrifices set the table for today's eye-popping salaries, improved playing conditions and the soaring value of professional sports franchises.
"We won a pension plan by tearing it out of the hides of owners who had us under slave contracts," said Bernie Parrish, a defensive back with the Cleveland Browns during the 1960s and now a fierce critic of the NFL Players Assn.'s treatment of old-timers. "We won the pension plan that is a gift to today's players. But the older guys have been getting" a bad deal.
The generation gap is most evident in the NFL.
Retired NFL stars Mike Ditka and Jerry Kramer recently used a Super Bowl XLI news conference to promote a sports memorabilia auction to raise money to benefit retired football players.
Former Los Angeles Rams great Merlin Olsen is working with the Pro Football Hall of Fame to find sports marketing opportunities for former players. And Parrish is pressing Congress, which already has held one hearing, to dig deeper into his former union's retirement and disability plans.
"It's just disgusting," said Kramer, a former Green Bay Packers star who receives a $358 monthly football pension. "The physical and economic hardships many guys are forced to live with are due to the lack of an adequate pension and disability package."
Old-timers have been especially harsh in their criticism of Gene Upshaw, a former player who is the union's executive director. The NFL Players Assn. repeatedly declined requests in recent months to discuss pension and retiree medical benefit plans. But, during a Feb. 2 news conference, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged that football should "reevaluate to see what we can do more to address the issues and we'll do that."
