In advance of Wednesday’s scheduled court date, where the players have charged NFL owners with antitrust violations, you’d think the league would be interested in going back to the bargaining table.
They have, in fact, made public pleas for the players to return to negotiations.
Well, that was obviously all bullshit.
John Clayton reports the players offered to meet with the owners last week and the owners refused.
Lawyers for the owners refuse to meet with the settlement attorneys for the players unless the trade association identifies itself as a union, which the players won’t do at this time. The players, according to multiple sources, planned to meet with the owners March 28 and spend the week settling this mess. All that had to be done was have a short document go to federal judge Susan Nelson’s court saying that the NFLPA’s executive board would serve as advisors. The NFL’s answer was no. This will be the only way a deal can be reached.
The main point of contention here seems to be that the players decertified their union, which they did in order to file the antitrust case.
Still, it’s a shame the owners wouldn’t even reopen discussions and another sign we’re probably in for a long offseason of this crap.
If I were an owner I would not meet with the players either. Come on, they disolve their union so they can file an anti-trust lawsuit against you, then they want to manipulate the system so they can resume talks while the lawsuit lingers. Too much greed going on for me, and it will be you and I that end up paying the tab for all of this. I say bring the scabs in or better yet televise all the CFL games in the US, maybe the players here need a wakeup call, if I acted like this in my workplace I don’t think I’d last to long, some of us are thankful we have jobs at minimum wage.
Who ever wrote that trash article, listen. The owners want to meet, to structure a new CBA. This meeting request, was to settle litigation, there is a difference. Especially when it was the Union, who pushed this litigition, then all of a sudden, they want to meet and try to settle litigation?? Owners were right to say no, The players suit was intended to bully and scare the NFL, meet to try and settle? Days before the court hearing? How much money was spent on this litigation, from both sides, the players filing it, to the owners response, If you want to end litigation, DONT file litigation to begin with, and just keep negotiating a new CBA, No, not Smith, He couldnt get to Court fast enough to decertify the Union. By the players(union) wanting to meet at this late date right before the hearing, I think they must be 2nd guessing there litigation strategy.