Greetings from the Burgh, where I am still reeling from the physical effects of the flu, but working to get back into the ballgame.
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Trump Poised to Probe the NFL Players Union
Earlier this month, Lowell Howell resigned as the executive director of the NFL Players Association, after a series of exposes raising legal concerns about his conduct.
Howell’s resignation came after it was revealed that he had kept secret from his members an arbitrator's ruling that the NFL had engaged in collusion. At the same time Howell had also been working with the Carlyle Group to buy a stake in an NFL team, a serious conflict of interest since the NFL’s owners must approve of team purchases.
Howell, who was making $3-million-a-year, also faced criticism for using the union’s credit card to spend thousands of dollars on multiple trips to strip clubs in violation of federal labor law.
Donald Trump has long feuded with the NFL, which blocked his attempts to buy a team in the 1980s. He also feuded with leaders of the NFLPA, who criticized Trump’s attacks on Colin Kaepernick's protests against police brutality.
Now the NFL Players Association is expecting the Trump Administration to launch a major investigation into the scandal at the union. From ESPN:
A criminal investigation into finances of the NFL Players Association includes potential misuse of funds and self-enrichment by union officials, according to a confidential document obtained by ESPN.
The scope of the federal investigation was outlined in a memo, titled "Crisis Management," drafted by a senior union attorney and shared with the NFLPA's executive committee and player representatives this week.
The document, confirmed by multiple sources who had seen it, says that the union is "now on notice of financial actions that may be criminal" and that the union faces "immediate threats requiring prompt actions."
The document, delivered just days after executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. and director of strategy JC Tretter resigned, details the biggest crisis in the union's 68-year history.
Under bulleted "immediate threats," the memo cites potential action by the National Labor Relations Board over "unfair labor practices" and a "lapse of fiduciary duty oversight practices during Howell tenure."
Trump Issues Executive Order to Limit Student-Athlete Pay
During the Biden Administration, collegiate athletes were allowed to begin accepting payment through Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) programs. Now, the Trump Administration has issued an executive order that attempts to limit how much collegiate athletes can be paid.
"Absent guardrails to stop the madness and ensure a reasonable, balanced use of resources across collegiate athletic programs that preserves their educational and developmental benefits, many college sports will soon cease to exist," the order reads.
For more about the executive order, check out NBC News.
3,200 Boeing Fighter Jet Workers Vote Down Contract
In the St. Louis area, 3,200 Boeing fighter jet workers, members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM), have voted down a union contract that would have included a 20% raise over 4 years.
Last fall, Boeing ended a 53-day strike in Washington State by offering workers a 38% wage increase over a 5 year period, but union members said they want to hold out for more.
“IAM Union members delivered a clear message: the proposal from Boeing Defense fell short of addressing the priorities and sacrifices of the skilled IAM Union workforce,” said the IAM in a statement. “Our members are standing together to demand a contract that respects their work and ensures a secure future.”
Las Vegas Workers Say Tips Have Declined Due to Lack of Canadian Tourists
In Las Vegas, workers who rely on tips say that their earnings have decreased dramatically despite Trump’s pledge not to tax tips.
“No tax on tips, that’s a rad thing. But it doesn’t really do us much good if there isn’t any people to get tips from,” Charlie Mungo, who said 30% of his customers were Canadian tourists, told the Wall Street Journal. “We’re all starting to freak out.”
For more, check out the Wall Street Journal.
Contractor Cited for Using Undocumented Workers, Profiting Off Building Immigrant Detention Camp
Finally, ProPublica has a long look at a contractor, who once faced legal issues over using undocumented workers, but who is now profiting from building immigration detention camps. From ProPublica:
On Monday, the Department of Defense announced that it had awarded a massive new contract to build the nation’s largest migrant detention camp on the Fort Bliss military base, a facility that will play a key role in the Trump administration’s deportation plans.
Unmentioned was that one of the subcontractors slated to work on the project, Disaster Management Group, is owned by Nathan Albers, who previously co-owned a company that pleaded guilty in 2019 to a scheme to hire undocumented workers and conceal them from immigration authorities. Albers is a big-time Republican donor who has spent time at Mar-a-Lago.
Two people with direct knowledge of the award and two familiar with the company told ProPublica that Disaster Management Group would help build the new facility, receiving a substantial chunk of the more than $1.2 billion the government has allocated for the project.
“The idea that you could use illegal labor and then sell services to ICE, the irony is thick,” said Scott Shuchart, a former official with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during President Donald Trump’s first term and later under President Joe Biden, referring to the immigration case involving TentLogix, the company Albers once co-owned.
For more, check out ProPublica.
Alright folks, that’s all for today. Keep sending tips, comments, and complaints to melk@paydayreport.com
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