NFL and NFLPA agree to mediation to resolve labour dispute
Just when we thought it was all over, the National Football League (NFL) and the Players Association (NFLPA) have upped the ante in the ongoing labour negotiations. The two sides have agreed to seven consecutive days of mediated negotiations.
The players’ union and league negotiators met on the Saturday before the Super Bowl and on the Wednesday afterwards. No details about the two days of negotiations were officially released. It was reported that on Wednesday the two sides discussed revenue
sharing. The union proposed status quo and the league rejected the suggestion out of hand and walked away from the negotiations.
The league also cancelled negotiations scheduled for Thursday. With the 3rd March deadline looming, the cancellation of negotiations was a sign that the two sides wouldn’t be able to get a new deal done in time. The alarm bells might have gone
off prematurely but we must still be cautiously optimistic.
The seven days of negotiations will now involve the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), whose director, George Cohen, will be present when the two sides meet this Friday. Cohen said in a written statement, “At the invitation of the FMCS, and
with the agreement of both parties, the ongoing negotiations will now be conducted under my auspices.”
Mediation is different from arbitration in that the mediator has no authority during the negotiations. His rulings are non-binding but that however, does not mean that Cohen’s presence during the coming negotiations session, scheduled in Washington won’t
have an impact. NFLPA spokesman, George Atallah said that the union believed in fair collective bargaining and hoped that the ‘renewed effort through mediation’ would go a long way in getting a labour deal done.
The FMCS’s director will work with the two parties and help them come to agreement which both sides can get behind. Last year the agency’s director was involved in labour negotiations with Major League Soccer (MLS) and proved instrumental in avoiding work
stoppage. Previously he was involved with Major League Baseball (MLB) and helped bring an end to the 1994-95 strike. He has also spent time with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) as an advisor. It is hoped that
his experience will help advance the negotiations.
Mediation is the first positive step either side has taken since the meetings were cancelled. NFLPA president Kevin Mawae said that negotiations through either the conventional means of bargaining or mediations were a good thing for all involved.
Earlier the NFL filed a complaint with the National Labour Relations Board accusing the NFLPA of failing to negotiate in good faith. The complaint alleged that the player union was only interested in ‘surface bargaining’ and their ultimate aim was to use
the threat of decertification and consequent litigation to put pressure on NFL owners.
During the seven days of negotiations, the two sides intend to reveal as little as possible. Atallah tweeted on Thursday details of the meetings would not be revealed and that the union will observe a ‘strict media blackout.’ The FMCS issued a similar statement.
It said that considering the sensitivity of the negotiations and in light of the agency’s long-standing policy, the FMCS will not make any public comments regarding the negotiations.
The league and the union have reached an impasse in their negotiations. The sticking point is the distribution of nearly $9 billion in revenue that the NFL generated last year. According to the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed in 2006, the players
and the owners divide revenue roughly 50-50. The owners pay for all operational costs, including stadium construction and upkeep. The owners argue that those costs have been rising at a greater rate than revenue and insist that the current model is not viable
in the long run.
The owners are asking for nearly $1 billion more from the total pie. The union has no intention of taking that kind of a pay cut. Now the two sides are playing a high stakes game of chicken.
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