Leaders of the pseudo-union of NFL players are expected to recommend approval of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to the membership on Monday according to stories by The Washington Post and by Pro Football Talk.
The executive leadership of the Players’ Association will meet at their Washington, DC, headquarters to vote to recommend adoption of the new CBA by the membership. If approved, the leaders will present to deal to the 32 players reps for approval. Past that step, the agreement will be presented to the entire membership for the mechanic of reconstituting the labor union and ratifying the labor agreement.
If the players get past those steps, then both free agency and training camps can open this coming weekend.
Some players and their team representatives expressed extreme mistrust of the owners when that group ratified the CBA last Thursday. That’s an obstacle. We have no idea how it will play out. It will fall to the 32 team reps to do the heavy lifting to sell the deal to the players. Media sources say that simple majority of the votes is needed at each step along the way for the Players’ Association to accept the deal.
The most encouraging news was tweeted by Mark Maske, who wrote The Post story. Says Maske: “This has been pushed to a resolution by Roger Goodell and De Smith, who are said to have been very forceful leaders in the late stages.”
Why is that important? Because ratifying a new labor agreement is just the first step. There are bound to be misunderstandings and new situations that arise in a 10 year agreement. A healthy working relationship between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL PA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith is essential. Both parties must represent their constituencies while keeping an eye on the big picture just as Paul Tagliabue and Gene Upshaw worked together to make the NFL good and big.
Players wise to settle lawsuits
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. The Players Association’s central role in all the bargaining and fact that no free agent player as an individual approached any team for a job (and was turned down) is evidence that a labor union exists in fact if not in name. Don’t know if it would carry the day at trial, but the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has considered that argument by the owners as said there is something to it.
The owners never believed the players union went out of business, decertification notwithstanding. DeMaurice Smith was at the forefront of discussions with the owners on the players’ behalf. So forgive the owners if they thought the pseudo-union could ratify the agreement quickly.
The players are wise to settle before their law suit comes back to Judge Nelson…who has new guidance from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. There is no certainty that Drew Brees et al would have won their suit. A loss would have forever crippled the anti-trust lever the players use against the owners at the end of every contract.
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