League now waiting on counterproposal from Players' Association side -NHL Update
The National Hockey League (NHL), after making its second proposal which mainly dealt with core economic issues being debated over by both sides, is now waiting for a counterproposal from the NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA) in order for the negotiations
on a new labour deal to continue.
With the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) set to expire on September 15, 2012, both sides are working fast to have a new deal or at least an outline in place ahead of time in order to avoid any situation which could result in a lockout.
Something that is being seen as an improvement over the previous deadlock was that the NHL included an extra $460 million in the proposal, with a boost of $120 in Year 1 of the schedule. It is definitely an improvement, but there are still many aspects of
the game that need to be covered.
"I hope it's clear that our intention is to make a deal that is fair," NHL Commissioner Bettman said. "It's a deal that we, in light of the experience we've had the last seven years, think needs to address issues that we have seen develop under this Collective
Bargaining Agreement. But, by the same token, we recognize the deal should be fair to the players and that's something we're hoping to accomplish. In that regard, [Tuesday], we made what we considered to be, and I think by any measure was, a meaningful and
significant move."
It is clear that the league is also as dedicated to getting these negotiations over with as soon as possible, as many would have to admit that they were the first to make an offer, but a lot of significant issues and grounds still need covering.
Other than that, the Players’ Association is still going over the current offer and has not given a specific timeframe of when they will be countering it with one of their own offers.
Bettman, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, NHLPA executive Director Donald Fehr and NHLPA special advisor, Steve Fehr, met for an hour and a half on Wednesday to discuss the issues more personally without the extra group of members on either side.
Updates should be expected in the upcoming days.
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