Tretter ’13 and Katz Discuss Union Leadership
Union leadership during a volatile labor-management period was discussed in a Nov. 1 eCornell Keynotes webinar.
JC Tretter ’13, president of the NFL Players Association, joined Harry Katz, the Jack Sheinkman Professor of Collective Bargaining and director of the ILR School’s Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution, to discuss how the pandemic influenced the league’s labor-management dynamic, how the association is advocating for change, how unity is built and the role the NFLPA can play in helping set standards for workers in other industries.
Tretter, now in his second term as the NFLPA president, was drafted out of Cornell by Green Bay in 2013. He spent his first three seasons with the Packers before signing with the Cleveland Browns in 2017. He announced his retirement prior to the current season.
Just days after Tretter’s first term with the NFLPA began, the league and union agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement that avoided a work stoppage and added a 17th game to the regular-season schedule.
Since that time, the 31-year-old Tretter has guided the union through two turbulent years due to the pandemic, and has had a major role in collaborating with the league in player safety protocols.
Originally published Oct. 26, this story was updated Feb.10.