Thursday, July 21, 2011

Players Have Until Tuesday To Recertify And Vote On CBA


According to ESPN.com, the NFLPA has informed the 32 player representatives that the NFL's settlement requires the players to re-form as a union and provide evidence that a majority of players have signed union authorization cards by Tuesday, July 26.

In addition, the league's settlement requires the players to ratify the proposed collective bargaining agreement by the 26th.

The players would then have only three days -- Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of next week -- to try and bargain any changes to the collective bargaining agreement. Any changes would be have to be agreed to by the owners in order to be incorporated into the agreement, which would become final on July 30.

If the NFL does not agree to the changes, the old CBA terms on benefits, discipline, and safety will remain unchanged for another ten years.

Mac's Football Blog has obtained a copy of the email sent to player reps by NFLPA general counsel Richard Berthelsen, and he believes the timeline violates labor law.

"In addition to depriving the players of the time needed to consider forming a union and making needed changes to the old Agreement, this proposed procedure would in my view also violate federal labor laws. Those laws prohibit employers from coercing their employees into forming a union, and could result in any Agreement reached through the procedure being declared null and void."

source:  Mac's Football Blog
author:  Brian McIntyre

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