A Texas labor organization is filing a complaint against Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones after he threatened to bench players who kneel during the national anthem.
United Labor Unions Local 100 filed the complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday, according to a post on its Facebook page.
{mosads}“Local 100 filed charges with Region 16 of the NLRB against the Dallas Cowboys to stop owner, Jerry Jones, from threatening players with benching or termination for exercising their right to concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act,” its post read.
“Sorry, Jerry, you’re over the line, partner. Workers have rights!”
Jones said Sunday that Cowboys players wouldn’t be allowed to play if they are “disrespectful to the flag.”
“If there is anything that is disrespectful to the flag then we will not play,” Jones told the Dallas Morning News. “You understand? If we are disrespecting the flag then we won’t play. Period.”
“We’re going to respect the flag, and I’m going to create the perception of it. And we have.”
Wade Rathke, the union’s chief organizer, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Jones is trying to “unilaterally establish a previously nonexistent condition of work.”
“Either way it’s a threat and you can’t threaten someone’s job for concerted activity. The point is he is threatening anybody and everybody,” Rathke told the newspaper.
President Trump praised Jones for the move in a tweet Monday night.
“A big salute to Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who will BENCH players who disrespect our Flag,” Trump tweeted. “Stand for Anthem or sit for game!”
Trump attacked players who kneel in protest during the anthem at a rally in Alabama last month, calling on team owners to fire players for kneeling and referring to any player who kneels as a “son of a bitch.”