INDIANAPOLIS Rex Grossman lost again. This time, the defeat came during Super Bowl week, and he didn’t even have to step on a football field.
The Indiana state senate approved a “right to work” law Wednesday, and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels couldn’t wait to sign it.
The timing of the legislation — just before the excess of the Super Bowl — puts the NFL Players Association in an awkward position, with protestors in the streets Wednesday vowing to disrupt Super Bowl festivities.
The players union lobbied against passage of the bill but doesn’t appear willing to do more than a letter campaign in which it took part several weeks ago. So don’t expect to see Eli Manning or Tom Brady on the streets of Indianapolis with protest signs.
We might see Grossman out there protesting, though.
The Washington Redskins quarterback was one of six players who lobbied Indiana politicians to vote against the law, which means unions can’t make deals that force non-members to pay fees for representation.
Grossman can’t win, even in his home state.
A letter signed by Grossman and sent to Indiana state representatives Jan. 9 made it seem as if he were a regular Samuel Gompers.
“As a Hoosier, I’m writing to ask you to vote ‘NO’ on the so-called ‘right-to-work’ bills that are dividing working families at a time when communities need to stand united,” Grossman, from Bloomington, Ind., purportedly wrote. A letter signed by Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was identical.
The letter made a ridiculous claim to Indiana lawmakers, comparing the labor struggles of the working class of the state to those of members of the NFL players union.
“Just like thousands of Indiana workers — and my NFL teammates — I value my union,” Grossman’s letter states. “As part of the NFL Players Association, I know what it means to fight for workers’ rights, better pensions and health and safety in the workplace.”
This “we shall overcome” pitch is rich, especially since the NFLPA had to cease to decertify in order to fight for “workers’ rights.”
Do you know where you find the instructions for union decertification — the path to a union’s fight for workers’ rights?
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation — an organization that states in its guide to decertification that “most employees prefer a workplace where they are free to discuss their terms and conditions of employment directly with the employer, without intervention by a third party.”
There is usually a third party — a safety, cornerback or linebacker — intervening in the terms and conditions of the beleaguered Redskins quarterback.
It doesn’t appear, though, you will see any intervention in the “right-to-work” plans of the New York Giants and the New England Patriots on Sunday at Lucas Oil Field.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
