Judge begins hearing of NBA’s complaint against the NBPA – NBA Labour Dispute Update
On Wednesday, November 3, a federal judge began hearing the complaint that NBA had made against the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) back in August. NBA Commissioner David Stern made the surprise move back then to
try and take away the possibility of the union decertifying and suing the league on anti-trust basis.
In the complaint, the NBA has said that the NBPA wants to use decertification as a negotiating tactic. It also requested the court to declare the NBA lockout lawful and permissible under anti-trust laws.
U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe, however, expressed reluctance to buy into the NBA’s stance on the matter, in the first hearing.
In oral arguments in Manhattan, NBA attorney Jeffrey Mishkin compared the threat of a decertification and subsequent suing by NBA players as a loaded gun that was put on the table by the union to gain an unfair advantage in the
labour negotiations.
The NBPA contends that the case should be tossed out immediately because it is based on pure speculation and hypothetical future events.
Mishkin though didn’t concur.
“They prefer the uncertainty,” Mishkin said of the union’s effort to get the lawsuit tossed out. “It’s like taking a loaded gun and laying it on the table.”
The judge though didn’t seem to warm up to Mishkin’s statement and viewed the NBA’s case with scepticism.
“If they’ve put the gun on the table, it’s not clear there are any bullets in it,” the judge said. “The courts discount threats of litigation in the context of collective bargaining.”
He later agreed with the NBPA’s stance by stating that the case does contain a “fair amount of speculation.”
NBPA counsel Jeffery Kessler said the union had not given any indication that it would decertify any time soon and the case should be thrown out because a decertification had simply not even taken place.
“They have no case,” he said. “They’re seeking to do something unprecedented, inappropriate.”
NBA’s attorney responded by pointing out that the union actually had collected signatures from members that would allow them to decertify.
“They’ve already collected the cards. They can do it at any moment,” he said. “We don’t have to wait. We don’t have to be subject to their whim.
“We want to get the antitrust threat out of the bargaining.”
A decision in the favour of either party soon could be a big turning point in the NBA lockout, which started back in July. The NBA and NBPA are fighting over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and the league has threatened to
wipe out the season if the NBPA does not agree to its proposal.
A federal judge can issue an injunction and order the league to end the lockout immediately if he sees fit.
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