Shots have been fired in the labor talks between the NBA and NBPA, with the league filing a federal lawsuit against the player’s association today. From Michael Lee of the Washington Post:
The NBA labor dispute has officially gotten heated after the league filed two claims Tuesday against the National Basketball Players Association. The league filed a suit with the National Labor Relation Board citing unfair labor practices – which counters a similar claim from the players’ union last month – and it also issued a federal lawsuit in New York.
The unfair labor practice charge asserts that the union has failed to bargain in good faith based on unlawful threats to “commence a sham ‘decertification’ and an antitrust lawsuit challenging the NBA’s lockout,” according to a statement. The federal lawsuit seeks to assert that the NBA lockout doesn’t violate federal antitrust laws and adds an interesting twist by starting that if the union’s decertification claims were found lawful, then all existing player contracts would become void and unenforceable.
A tip of the hat to Sactown Royalty’s Tom Ziller for pointing out this little nugget about the suit.
Jimmer and Charles Jenkins were included in the list of defendants because they are from New York, the suit was filed in New York and the NBA needed to make sure New York residents not under NBA contract were included in the suit.
Now for your viewing pleasure, here is the first page of the NBA’s federal lawsuit against the NBPA, wherein Jimmer is James (via USA Today).
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