And we thought KPR was the only gatekeeper in LD Triathlon?

Seriously after listening to Rich Allen last night & Dirk's fuck up this arvo - I doubt very much this will be an issue come January 1st. Piss up & brewery comes to mind.

Challenge is clearly pandering to the AG athletes that care about the pro races and how they are treated. Challenge like WTC rely on AG participation and it will be interesting to see if this even moves the needle in that regard.

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I *heart* weak, dumb ass people...

Is it just me or does it sound like ProTriUnion are genuinely surprised with Challenges announcement?

Wouldn't be surprised if this were the first won battle of an already lost war.

Interesting.

Is this legal? In the state of Florida we just found out that the Kona Lottery was illegal. And here we have a for profit business forcing its customers/sub contractors to be members of a union?

TITLE 31. LABOR (Chs. 435-452)
CHAPTER 447. LABOR ORGANIZATIONS
PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
§ 447.01. Regulating labor unions; state policy.
(1) Because of the activities of labor unions affecting the economic conditions of the country and the state, entering as they do into practically every business and industrial enterprise, it is the sense of the Legislature that such organizations affect the public interest and are charged with a public use. The working person, unionist or nonunionist, must be protected. The right to work is the right to live.
(2) It is here now declared to be the policy of the state, in the exercise of its sovereign constitutional police power, to regulate the activities and affairs of labor unions, their officers, agents, organizers and other representatives, in the manner, and to the extent hereafter set forth. (Enacted 1943, amended effective July 1, 1997.)

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Austin Hardy -

Wait, how is this any different than WTC's $800 pro fee? Other than the money goes to an athlete run organization rather than a private equity owned firm? I think what would be ideal is that all the pro fees (WTC, Challenge, and if any other races still have pros) were wrapped up in to one through this org, though WTC has no benefit or reason to cooperate since they currently have the upper hand.

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http://trainingwheelsrequired.wordpress.com
@KellyNCollier

I believe WTC got in trouble because their corporation and offices are in FL, if they had been somewhere else, the lottery issue wouldn't have happened.
Challenge is a German company, so this doesn't pertain to them. Worst case, they just couldn't enforce that rule at the Challenge Florida race.

I don't believe that they are technically a union and don't fall under any union rules. They're more of a professional organization.

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Ready or not here I come!
Coaching NY's Southern Tier
Swift^3

Yes, this is the example I was trying to make. I am not familiar with international law, and how it relates to unions. I am merely hypothesizing that this early announcement by Challenge seems like a knee jerk reaction, that might have some legality issues. As it certainly does at LEAST in Florida.

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Austin Hardy -

"I believe WTC got in trouble because their corporation and offices are in FL"

maybe. but remember it was a US Atty who went after them, so, that seems to me to indicate ironman was (according to the US Atty) in violation of federal law.

"Challenge is a German company"

but it has a US nexus. still, is it not mandatory to make someone be a part of a professional organization? bar association? i don't know. does that require statutory exception?

i'd like to know how this would differ from ironman's requirement to pay into the ironman pro membership. maybe it would, i'm just asking.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

US Attorney would get involved in that case because of the violation of federal law, but the federal law violation is predicated on the original issue, which was FL849.09. It had entirely to do with the fact that WTC is sited in Tampa, FL. I have a copy of the forfeiture agreement on my desk if you'd like to take a look at it…

PTU isn't a union. Kelly and I wrote about it here: http://www.somerandomthursday.com/...-union-in-name-only/ Essentially, pro triathletes are independent contractors, not employees.

The WTC Pro Membership is just that: a membership fee required to race their events. And WTC is more than welcome to require it as a private company. Now, if membership were to then become a control issue (these X pros will race here, these Y pros will race here, etc.), and have more control…then you begin to talk about establishing an employer-employee relationship; again, this is something I don't think either side wants, which we talked about in that above mentioned link.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Just to clarify.... the WTC fee is $800 if you want entry into ALL of their races. You can buy one day passes, I believe $225 for half IM or $450 for full IM. Don't have to do the full $800

And the major difference is that with WTC it's just a race entry fee. I don't have to be part of any union or agree with their bylaws etc etc

With this pro union, I have to pay to race, AND I'd be supporting their rules and decisions etc.

I support both WTC and Challenge, but I don't want to be a part of this union.


Imagine if Honda said just buy our car and have a nice day!

But Toyota says in order to buy our car you must not only pay for it, but you also MUST join the United Auto Workers union