Players Association hinting Breakup, League heads to Court -NHL Lockout Update
In another amazing series of events, the National Hockey League (NHL) and Players’ Association made some moves and hinted at others, showing that they are not only out of options but are on the edge as far as the lockout is concerned.
Things may be heading into court as the Players’ Association has hinted at breaking up, decertifying itself from players and representatives which many had signalled to in the past while the league is reported to have filed a class-action complaint in federal
court along with a Unfair Labor Practice Charge with the National Labor Relations Board.
For the NHL, the NHLPA failed to keep its word on not decertifying unless on a mutual agreement, but there could be many more surprising turns in the future as this battle is not going to be one which will be decided in days, but could easily take weeks
and months to get over.
A statement from the NHLPA regarding the suit filed by the league read:
"The NHLPA has just received a copy of the National Labor Relations Board charge and has not yet been served with the lawsuit. However, based on what we’ve learned so far, the NHL appears to be arguing that Players should be stopped from even considering
their right to decide whether or not to be represented by a union. We believe that their position is completely without merit."
The lockout is closing in on being three months long now as the previous collective bargaining agreement came to an end on September 15, 2012. Talks had kicked off as early as June of this year but continuous deadlocks between the stakeholders and stalemates
just lengthened the ordeal much more than it should have been.
It is the second time in less than a decade the hockey league has had to face severe work stoppage, with this one being even more irrelevant than the 2004-2005 one. There is no clear way or middle path to settlement as federal mediators have even failed
to make the much needed difference.
Updates should be expected in the next couple of days.
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