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We hope..........




Players association likely to recertify
NFL LABOR
Monday, July 18, 2011
By Ray Fittipaldo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When NFL players decided to decertify as a union before they were locked out in March, they did so because it was necessary to pursue a class-action antitrust lawsuit that several players, including New England quarterback Tom Brady, filed against NFL owners.

That decision to disband transformed the former players union into a trade association, which allowed NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith to continue negotiating with owners.

With agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement between the two sides close, there is the issue of the players reforming as a union. This is almost certain to happen because both parties believe it is beneficial for them.

Most employers discourage unions from forming, but NFL owners want a players union because its existence protects the league's long-standing exemption from federal antitrust law. Owners need collective bargaining approval of a union to continue long-standing practices, such as the drafting of players from the college ranks.

For players, it has been easier to negotiate with the owners collectively rather than individually, when it comes to winning better benefits and compensation.

However, there is precedent for the league operating without a players union. The previous time the players decertified, they did not reform as a union until four years later.

The NFLPA decertified in 1989 in order to win unrestricted free agency through litigation. The players union did not reform again until 1993.

But waiting to recertify this time around does not appear to be an issue for players. It's likely to be among the conditions of a new collective bargaining agreement.

According to local labor attorneys who are not involved in the NFL negotiations, the process for the players association to recertify is simple and won't take long. The easiest way for it to happen is for the players to ask the owners for voluntary recognition.

Mike Healey, of Downtown law firm Healey and Hornack, and Joseph Pass, of Jubelirer, Pass and Intrieri, agree this is the likely course of action because the owners do not want to stand in the way of the players reforming as a union.

If for some reason the owners don't accept this course, the players can recertify by petitioning the National Labor Relations Board. Thirty percent of players would have to sign authorization cards, officially petition the NLRB, and finally, hold a secret ballot. In that secret ballot, a majority of players would have to agree to reform the union.

This was the way the players decertified the union last fall. Even though the NFLPA did not officially decertify until March, the voting process took place during the season when the signatures of players could be easily obtained by NFLPA team representatives.

A source within the NFLPA confirmed Friday that reforming as a union is a simple process. The most likely scenario, the source said, is that players' signatures could be obtained at training camp once the owners lift the lockout and allow the players to return to work.

Ray Fittipaldo: rfittipaldo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1230.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11199/1161125-66.stm#ixzz1SRti3wNL

What good is it for the owners to have a union that is disolved as a negotiating ploy each and every time there is an expired CBA?

Maybe it should be harder ..... MUCH harder ... to re-form a union once one has been voluntarily abandoned. This is utter crap.

Makes sense to me. Hope we get it all done this week. Sure wish it would happen soon. Sounds like done but unsigned status.

If I'm the owners I insist on such language. This is 2 times in a row that the union has used this moronic negotiating tactic only to turn around and recertify immediately foillowing an agreement.

The union would not recertify if the option to decertify wasn't available to them.

If I was in the owners camp, I would not agree to a deal until such provisions were included.

You know that the first thing the union will do when this CBA expires is to play the "Today we're a union, tomorrow we're not" game. It's garbage, Either be a union, or don't be a union.

Remember that having a union is beneficial to the owners too as it allows them to be exempt from anti-trust laws.

That's true, but they get sued every time there is a work stoppage anyway ...... so the benefit is limited.

Currently Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and others have antitrust lawsuits against the NFL. Once there is an agreement, those will vanish into the ether.

It sounds like it's pretty close to a done deal to me, but is there still any chance of talks blowing up between both sides?

ESPN.com

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The sides in the NFL's labor dispute are amenable to rolling the remaining issues that are most problematic -- the settlement of the Brady vs. NFL antitrust lawsuit and the television "lockout insurance" damages case -- into a global settlement, sources familiar with the talks told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

A global settlement would mean that those two cases, along with the retired players' lawsuit and all other legal issues, would be dropped if the players ratify a new collective bargaining agreement, which is expected to cover the next 10 seasons. That would be the quickest way to get the lockout lifted.

If the remaining legal issues are not rolled into a global settlement, it would be a very bad sign, potentially even stopping progress.

Lawyers from both sides are meeting in New York on Monday to work on the unresolved issues.

The NFL sent a memo to all 32 teams Monday instructing all key executives to attend Thursday's owners meeting in Atlanta, sources told Schefter. Each team is allowed to bring two representatives (owner and one executive). It highlights of the importance of Thursday's meeting, when the NFL would like to ratify a new CBA.

Meanwhile, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will do "whatever is necessary," including traveling to Washington, where the NFL Players Association's executive committee is scheduled to meet Monday, sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan is expected to join negotiators in New York later Monday. Before departing for an overseas vacation on July 9, Boylan ordered a mediation session in Minneapolis on Tuesday. It had appeared that the mediation session would be canceled after the progress made in New York on Thursday and Friday, but sources say the hope is that mediation will nudge the two sides to a final agreement in time for the players to vote to recertify as a union and approve an agreement Wednesday.

Under that scenario, the owners would ratify the new CBA on Thursday at the league meetings in Atlanta. According to sources, the two sides also could use Wednesday morning to finish their mediated negotiation session, if necessary.

The limit of franchise tags on the 10 named plaintiffs in the Brady antitrust lawsuit could be the anchor to a settlement to that case. That would result in named plaintiffs such as Drew Brees, Logan Mankins, Peyton Manning and Vincent Jackson not being subject to any free agent restrictions in 2012 if their respective teams do not sign them to long-term contracts.

U.S. District Judge David Doty's ruled in March that owners did not act in the best interests of players as directed by the previous CBA in creating "lockout insurance." The players have asked Doty to place $4 billion in escrow until the lockout is resolved but Doty has not ruled. It is possible the players will use this leverage to gain the restoration of $320 million in lost benefits from 2010, which is currently an unresolved issue among the sides.

Under a ratified agreement, teams would have an exclusive 72-hour window to negotiate contracts with their own free agents Friday before those players hit the open market at the start of league-wide free agency on July 25.

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I thought that they, by law, had to wait at least one year before they could recertify?

Off the top of my head I thought it to be 6 months.

The 80's labor stoppage saw them stay out as a union until 1993, but that brought huge gains in free agency with it.

Boylan, lawyers huddle in N.Y. in bid for NFL agreement
By Greg A. Bedard
Globe Staff / July 19, 2011

Lawyers from the NFL and NFL Players Association met with Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan in New York to work through the remaining details in a new collective bargaining agreement.

An agreement on the terms of settlement for the antitrust case, Brady v. NFL, could happen today or tomorrow morning. That would set the stage for the NFLPA to give its blessing of the new deal, followed by league owners.

The NFLPA began welcoming its 11-man executive committee to its headquarters in Washington, D.C., yesterday. They will study and debate the terms of the CBA today, and it could be spirited.

Tomorrow, each team’s player representatives to the NFLPA will be included in the discussion. They will help speed up the process of re-forming the NFLPA as a union, which is needed for the agreement to proceed.

The executive committee also will provide a recommendation for the 10 named plaintiffs in the Brady case, including Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and guard Logan Mankins.

How the settlement applies to Mankins, along with Chargers receiver Vincent Jackson, will bear watching and has the potential to hold things up into next week.

Both have played six years and have yet to be free agents. After being restricted free agents when the rules changed in the 2010 uncapped year, Mankins and Jackson were tagged as franchise players before the lockout. Another team could sign them only if it were willing to surrender two first-round picks.

Both players could demand that the franchise tag be immediately removed, or settle for some other form of compensation. That could include additional money or possibly an agreement under which they never could be tagged by their teams again.

The Patriots, who have been deeply involved in the labor talks because of owner Robert Kraft’s constant presence, likely would be vehemently opposed to letting Mankins, their All-Pro left guard, become an unrestricted free agent.

Once the NFLPA gets everything in place and re-forms as a union, only a majority of players need to vote for the CBA for it to be approved.

The owners will meet in Atlanta Thursday, and 24 of the 32 teams need to approve the CBA for it to pass.

In anticipation of a new deal, the league sent a memo to all teams yesterday informing them that the rules of the new CBA will be explained in a seminar that will start 90 minutes after it is ratified, a league source said. The meeting, which will include up to four members of a team’s personnel staff, will conclude Friday.

The timeline for the resumption of league operations is still unknown, and is contingent on a new CBA and the global settlement of all outstanding legal matters between the NFL and NFLPA.

A league source said the tentative date for the start of free agency is July 28. A three-day window in which teams can re-sign their own free agents - and likely undrafted free agents and draft picks - would start this Monday.

The NFL and the players agreed to increase benefits to retired players by nearly $1 billion over the 10 years of the proposed CBA, ESPN.com reported. That would include $620 million for a “legacy fund’’ to help retired players deal with injuries and other hardships.

In a procedural move, the Brady plaintiffs filed for a summary judgment in their case without further evidence being introduced. The deadline was yesterday, and the request would be withdrawn when a settlement is reached.

Yesterday was the 128th day of the lockout.

Greg A. Bedard can be reached at gbedard@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @greg_a_bedard.

Last year most training camps opened on the 28th of July, give or take a day depending on the team and maybe a few days earlier for rookies.

This year, assuming they don't open while the 72 hour FA period is in swing, camps will probably open on Sunday the 31st or Monday the 1st....at the latest, say Wed the 3rd.

Not too far off last years pace.

We have a lot to get done. Let's hope these camp Colts will pay some dividends and we don't have players walking around clueless for the first 2 weeks.

Even then we probably aren't going to see our full capability until several weeks in to the season.

I am not as worried about the D even though we are making a big switch there as well. On D you can get by relying on instinct and just swarming to the ball better then a O can by just winging it.


It's been hotter than heck this summer. I dream of Saturday morning, September 10th.

I'll get up and take a 6 mile walk...and part of that walk will take me to Huntington Beach where I will walk out to the end of the rock pier/break wall and just take in the city skyline to the east and feel the cool Canadian air hit me in the face.

I don't care if it is storming and waves are crashing over the wall....I'll feel cold, wet lake water hitting me in the face.

If anybody wants to join me, there is a good chance I'll get there around 7:45 am.

Yep, we opened on the 23rd last year and were one of only seven teams to open prior to the 28th or later.

I would imagine they open camp as soon as legally possible and at the least get guys in to start going over playbooks and conditioning....prior to FA commencing.

Wish I could join you. I haven't been to Huntington since the summer of '89, just before I moved to Florida. Spent a lot of time there chasing girls back in the day.

Source: No NFLPA vote on Wednesday

By Chris Mortensen
ESPN

NFL Players Association player representatives gave DeMaurice Smith and the executive committee a "vote of confidence" to finish the remaining deal points in the proposed collective bargaining agreement, a source told ESPN on Wednesday, adding that the committee will work tonight to try to resolve issues.

Part of the holdup in taking a vote on the proposed CBA, the source said, was that the player reps did not have a final document to review. The vote, which could take place by conference call or remote communication, will not happen Wednesday, a source said Wednesday evening.

Earlier Wednesday, a source, who seemed upbeat, suggested the vote could happen Thursday.

I think as Kevin Mawae told everyone at the start of the day that we did not bring everyone in to push them into a deal that isn't complete.

Smith, however, hedged on whether the players would vote Thursday before owners are scheduled to meet in Atlanta and hold their own vote on the proposed deal.

"I know everyone wants to be an expert and say they know exactly what's going on behind closed doors and when this is going to happen," Smith told ESPN on Wednesday night. "Both sides know where they stand. Both sides continue to work very intensively, as we have for several weeks. I'm not into the prediction business and I'm not about to get into details, but their side knows what our deal is and, again, we know where they stand."

With negotiations reaching a crucial point, Smith said he received words of encouragement late Tuesday from former Major League Baseball union leader Marvin Miller.

"He reminded me that [labor negotiations] are always a tremendous amount of work and it should be that way until you reach a proper conclusion," Smith told ESPN.

The head of the NFLPA said he planned to work through the night by phone with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the appropriate negotiators.

Jeff Pash, general counsel for the NFL, said Wednesday that the proposed 10-year settlement will take time to close but that he believes the parties are close.

"It's obviously a complicated agreement, but I think both sides are at the point where they can close, they should close and we should be in a position to take votes," Pash, the league's lead negotiator, said after the owners' labor committee held a five-hour session at a hotel near Atlanta's airport.

Goodell joined the meeting of nine of the 10 members of the labor committee, which hoped to recommend a finalized proposal to all club owners, who are due there Thursday.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told ESPN's Sal Paolantonio that the owners will meet as scheduled Thursday, regardless of whether the players vote, and decide then on the next course of action.


Asked whether the owners would consider approving an agreement Thursday, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson smiled and said: "I'm always ready for a vote."

Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a member of the 10-person committee, was absent due to the death of his wife, Myra, and according to Paolantonio, his son, Jonathan Kraft, will attend Thursday's meetings in his place. Jonathan Kraft is the president of the Patriots.

Special considerations for the 10 named plaintiffs in the Brady antitrust lawsuit against the NFL remained unsettled as of late Wednesday night.

Pash said Wednesday afternoon that the NFL has no remaining issues with the antitrust plaintiffs and that the league believes the antitrust case will be dissolved.

Earlier Wednesday, NFLPA president Kevin Mawae referenced the plaintiffs in his comments to reporters.

"The deal we're working on is the one that's best for all the players in the NFL and not just four guys," he said.

When the CBA is finalized, it will include three additional provisions that were agreed upon by both sides, a league source told Paolantonio.

• Enhanced injury protection benefit -- In addition to a player's salary in the season he is injured, the player would get up to $1 million for the first year after the injury and up to $500,000 in the second year.

• Players get to stay in the league-sponsored player medical plan for life, if they so choose.

• An annual increase in minimum salaries for players -- 10 percent increase for rookies, 12 percent for second-year players -- and the increases will continue throughout the life of the proposed 10-year CBA. That would mean a 10 percent increase in rookie salary for 2011 over the 2010 salary and then a 10 percent increase for rookies in 2012 salary over the 2011 salary. Approximately 1,000 of the 1,890 NFL players in 2010 were minimum-salary players, according to the league.


“

It's obviously a complicated agreement, but I think both sides are at the point where they can close, they should close and we should be in a position to take votes.

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-- NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash

"I think that's the healthy outcome: to have a complete, comprehensive, global agreement that settles all the disputes and puts us on a path where we are going forward together as business partners, the way it should be, rather than going forward with one hand and fighting over something that should be in the past," Pash said.

However, Mawae did say Wednesday that the players won't be pressured into agreeing to a deal.

"We're not tied to a timeline of July 21 [when the owners are scheduled to meet in Atlanta]. Our timeline is to get a deal that's best for the players -- today, tomorrow or whatever it might be," Mawae said.

Smith told ESPN that he wasn't disappointed by the perceived nonaction by the executive committee and the 32 player reps who traveled to Washington to review terms of a potential agreement.

"I think as Kevin Mawae told everyone at the start of the day that we did not bring everyone in to push them into a deal that isn't complete," Smith said. "This really was the first time these 32 guys were able to go through the point details. They asked some really good questions. This was a good day. Remember, it is a longer-term deal [10 years] than we've really ever experienced, so there should be a lot of questions, especially with details left unfinished."

If the four-month lockout -- the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987 -- is going to end in time to keep the preseason completely intact, the players and owners almost certainly must ratify the deal by Thursday. The St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears are scheduled to open the preseason Aug. 7 in the Hall of Fame game.

Asked whether that exhibition game will be played, Pash replied: "We'll see. It's getting tight. It would be pretty challenging. That's one of the things we'll have to focus on."

Even after all acceptable terms are established, it will lead to a collective bargaining agreement only if the team reps recommend re-establishing the NFL Players Association as a union. And that needs to be OK'd by a majority vote of the 1,900 players. Those votes probably would be done on a conference call.

If owners, as expected, do vote Thursday, at least 24 would need to OK the deal. If it's passed by both sides, team executives would be schooled later that day and Friday in Atlanta in the guidelines and how to apply them; topics would include the 2011 NFL calendar, rookie salary system and new free-agency rules.

Meanwhile, organizers for the NFL's season-ending event, the Super Bowl, said Wednesday they likely will cancel a second weekend of bookings if the new CBA is agreed to in time.

Super Bowl host committee chairman Mark Miles said he plans to inform local hoteliers that they can begin booking customers for the weekend of Feb. 12 soon after the NFL's owners and players agree to a new collective bargaining agreement. The Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 5, but league officials had asked the city to keep two weekends open during the bid process in case the date had to be moved.

Chris Mortensen is a senior NFL analyst for ESPN. Information from ESPN national correspondent Sal Paolantonio, ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Chester Pitts says the lockout won’t end for “two full weeks”
Posted by Mike Florio on July 21, 2011, 12:08 AM EDT


We’re gonna need more ice for all of this champagne.

At a time when it has been widely believed that the NFLPA* and the NFL will approve the proposed labor deal and open the doors for free agency and training camps next week, Seahawks guard Chester Pitts told Tony Bruno of FOX Sports Radio that it will take “two full weeks” to get the situation resolved.

Pitts is the Seahawks’ player representative, and he attended Wednesday’s meetings in Washington, D.C. So he’s privy to what’s going on behind closed doors.

Frankly, we don’t know what to make of any of it. Our gut feeling is that the players are dragging their feet in order to get something else from the owners, even if both the players and the owners will lose roughly $100 million each for every week of the preseason that is lost.

Jim Trotter of SI.com reported on Wednesday that the players’ request for $320 million in lost benefits during the uncapped year of 2010 remains an issue, even though that was a wrinkle of the prior CBA, which when viewed from start to finish was favorable to the players. And as Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com reported on Wednesday night, Chargers receiver Vincent Jackson and Patriots guard Logan Mankins still want $10 million each to put their signatures on the settlement papers of the Brady antitrust class action.

We think everything can get wrapped up quickly if/when the two sides decide to wrap it all up. For now, it looks like the players will be deliberately dragging their feet in the hopes of extracting a few final concessions from the owners.

Again, the two sides have resolved much thornier issues. It should be easy to resolve these remaining matters, if NFLPA* executive director DeMaurce Smith can display true leadership to his players — and if Smith can continue to keep a leash on NFLPA* lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, who possibly is stirring the “let’s get paid more money” pot.

UPDATE: A reader has reminded us that Pitts is represented by Andrew Kessler, the son of Jeffrey Kessler. So it all makes sense now.

web page

NOT SO FAST...while I'm sure the owners view any outstanding issues as minor and the contract language as understandable, this is a most important time for the players (and their lawyers) to review the final contract.

I doubt it will be two more weeks but who knows?

Two more weeks? Sign the mudder and play ball. Can't imagine what would take this long. If it is just more of the jerking each other around for minimal stuff, get on with it. Lock down the cash and play ball. Probably make more $$$$ with the stadiums open than locked up.

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Chester Pitts says the lockout won’t end for “two full weeks”

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I knew it was too good to be true that we would have FA next week

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I'm choosing to believe everyone else when they say it's almost done rather than Pitts. But I'm trying to be optimistic...LOL

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If you ask me. I think it's time these guys laced up the cleats and stop dragging their feet

Latest labor issue: NFLPA* recertification timeline
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on July 21, 2011, 11:56 AM EDT


The latest issue being discussed as we wonder how and when the lockout will end: How soon can the NFLPA* recertify?

“Hearing the timing of the NFLPA recertification is the latest issue now to crop up,” Daniel Kaplan of the SportsBusiness Journal writes. “League wants right away, players saying needs two weeks.”

Mark Maske of the Washington Post echoed the sentiment. Meanwhile, Ron Borges of the Boston Herald reports on the process that needs to happen to recertify.

“Nearly 1,000 recertification cards have to be signed and returned, approving recertification before the union can re-form. And that takes a lot longer than 24 hours, according to the union,” Borges writes. (Apparently they have never heard of the internet.)

So why does that matter?

SI’s Jim Trotter notes that the union needs to re-certify before collectively bargaining issues like drug testing and discipline. (For example, can arrests during the lockout incur punishment?)

Could this process hold up the start of a league year? The reality is that no one knows.

“I feel like we’re watching Charlie Brown and Lucy,” Judy Battista of the New York Times writes. “Just when Charlie is ready to kick the football, Lucy pulls it away at the last minute.”
pft

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“I feel like we’re watching Charlie Brown and Lucy,” Judy Battista of the New York Times writes. “Just when Charlie is ready to kick the football, Lucy pulls it away at the last minute.”

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You can say that again.

Thanks for the ray of hope

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now why in the world would players want an extra 2 weeks before they had to be drug tested

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Seems to me that, that thought should have already occurred to them weeks ago.

D. Smith talking about Re-Certify on ESPN...

EDIT:
My interpretation of what he just said is "We're ganna drag out this re-certifying thing, dig it"

Yes, I'm clearly biased...

Based on the reports, the players want this:

We will vote to approve the settlement, but it will take a few days to re-certify (thus, we cannot vote on the CBA for a few days). We want the owners to end the lockout while we recertify and allow us to negotiate the non-compensation portions of the CBA when the recertification is complete

The owners want this:

We will vote to approve the settlement, but we want you to accept the 2006 (expiring) CBA in all aspects except the compensation (which is detailed in the global settlement) otherwise we will not end the lockout.

j/c - NFLN just announced the owners have ratified the proposal to end the lockout. I'll assume from that, that they also agree to the CBA, though can't do anything about it until the union recerts.

Edit: Eisen said the vote was 31-0 approving, with one abstaining - presumably the Raiders.

Edit 2 - a LINK

Players, the ball is in your court, get it done already.

Goodell just said that the CBA was also approved by the owners (deal good for 10 years). Looks like the league year starts Wed.

Again, players, the ball is in your court - get it done.

HoF game is canceled.