NBA labour talks exceed 14 hour mark – NBA Lockout Update
The latest round of talks over the NBA Labour Dispute are still going on and have just entered the 14th hour. The negotiations between NBA owners and players, held in New York, are being mediated by Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) George Cohen.
This round of negotiation over the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) has been termed "make or break" as NBA Commissioner David Stern had warned last week that a resolution to the labour dispute must be reached by Tuesday, otherwise he could not guarantee a NBA season for 2011-2012.
"If there's a breakthrough, it's going to come on Tuesday," he told NBA TV. "And if not, I think that the season is really going to potentially escape from us because we aren't making any progress."
The Commissioner is present in the meeting, alongside deputy commissioner Adam Silver and Peter Holt, owner of the San Antonio Spurs and president of the league’s labour relations committee. Other members of the committee, including Mark Cuban, owner of current NBA World Champions the Dallas Mavericks, are also present.
The players are represented by President of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Derek Fisher, Executive Director Billy Hunter and other members of the executive committee, including Maurice Evans. Legal counsels of the NBPA also have representation in the talks.
The talks began at 10 A.M. under the supervision of George Cohen. The Director of the FMCS had met with both sides separately on Monday to prepare for the marathon session that is currently underway. It has been reported that Cohen has kept both sides apart in today’s session so far, not allowing them to talk directly to each other.
Cohen is a presidential appointee and took control of the FMCS back in 2009. He is known as a man of integrity, charm and humility and raised his reputation when he successfully negotiated a labour dispute in Major League Soccer without losing a single game of the season.
The NBA is already past that point as 2 weeks of regular season action have already been cancelled by David Stern. However, fans are watching developments in New York with anticipation in the hope that Cohen can work his magic here as well.
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