Labor Union
Being able to see the racing industry from the business end, he developed a feeling that drivers deserved a better deal for their role in the sport. Together with Fireball Roberts and Tim Flock, he attempted to organize a union for them, the Federation of Professional Athletes, in 1961. According to The Washington Post: "His aims are for better purses, a share in broadcasting rights and retirement benefits for the drivers." Unfortunately for him, NASCAR has never looked favorably on an organized union for the drivers, and Turner was banned for life.
Turner continued to race under other sanctioning bodies, including the Midwest Association for Race Cars (MARC), even promoting his own 100-mile event on the dirt at Lakewood Speedway, Georgia, in October 1961. Tim Flock finished second in that event. Turner and Flock sued NASCAR and its president Bill France "seeking $200,000 punitive damages each and restitution for loss of earnings." "Attorneys for the drivers claim the ban represents a violation of state right to work laws because test driving contracts involving $150 a day plus expenses were canceled as a result of the action. NASCAR and France's attorneys contended the ban isn't a right to work violation because it doesn't involve an employer-employe relationship. They said Flock and Turner are individual contractors and not employes of NASCAR or any track."
Read more about this topic: Curtis Turner
Famous quotes containing the words labor and/or union:
“I count him a great man who inhabits a higher sphere of thought, into which other men rise with labor and difficulty; he has but to open his eyes to see things in a true light, and in large relations; whilst they must make painful corrections, and keep a vigilant eye on many sources of error.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It would be unjust, and moreover Utopian, for Shakespeare to direct the shoemakers’ union. But it would be equally disastrous for the shoemakers’ union to ignore Shakespeare.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)