League, Players' Association agree on using Mediators -NHL Lockout Update
The National Hockey League (NHL) and Players’ Association have agreed upon something, that looks to be for the very first time in a long, long time ever since the lockout came into effect on September 15, 2012.
Mediators will now be taking over to bring the lockout to an end, after the previous collective bargaining agreement came to an end in September. Talks have been going on since this past June, but nothing significant has come about as of yet.
"We are able to confirm that we have agreed to a request by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to engage in meetings with the Union that will involve the participation of Federal Mediators," NHL Deputy Commissioner, Bill Daly, said. "While we
have no particular level of expectation going into this process, we welcome a new approach in trying to reach a resolution of the ongoing labor dispute at the earliest possible date.”
It is reported that the process by the Federal Mediators should start as soon as Wednesday, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
"We have no further comment on the upcoming meetings at the current time," Daly went on to add.
Their services have been used by various sports leagues in the past, which include the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Football League (NFL), both which faced lockouts this past season.
One thing that may prove to ignite the situation later on is that any outcome of the mediation will not be binding on either side, but would just be an opinion or advice that either side could use to further continue negotiations. Both stakeholders are hopeful
of working something out soon and hoping that their reservations will be respected in the process.
The entire postseason was cancelled out due to the lockout, followed by a major chunk of the 2012-2013 NHL regular season, 2013 Winter Classic and most recently, the All-Star Game as well. All these cancellations have resulted in huge financial losses for
both sides and not taking any steps would just worsen the situation even more.
It will be interesting to see what the outcome is of the mediation process when the time comes.
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