Players union and owners set to meet again for labour negotiations – NBA Update
According to sources close to the NBA labour negotiations over the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) have confirmed that the players and owners will meet again on Wednesday. The meeting is scheduled to be held in New York
and NBA fans will be hoping something positive comes out of it.
This will be only the third meeting between the two sides since the lockout began on July 1st. The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and the NBA owners cancelled a previously planned meeting because of the
lack of progress earlier, but did hold one when the lockout was just entering its 3rd month.
At the end of that meeting NBA Commissioner David Stern showed his resolve to continue discussions with the players as the season draws closer. He was adamant that continuing the discussions was the only way forward.
"We don't have any deadlines in mind," Stern said. "We just have meetings in mind and discussions in mind."
This was a positive change in David Stern’s approach who previously took the damaging step of suing the NBPA. That aggressive course of action raised doubts in the minds of players over Stern’s sincerity in negotiating a deal and
was generally seen as a negative sign by the NBA fans.
Since the second meeting though, there seems to be a thaw in relations between the two sides. NBPA President Derek Fisher, a long time servant of the Los Angeles Lakers, also addressed the press after the meeting and reiterated
the players resolve to get a new CBA in place before the scheduled start of the NBA season.
"Everyone loses if we don't reach an agreement, that's something that I think has always been understood," Fisher said. "But as we approach Sept. 1 and obviously the training camp schedule to start on Oct. 1, the urgency is just
continuing to build and increase on both sides, and we're going to remain focused on finding a way to get this done."
In that meeting ground rules were set in terms of the negotiating process and building confidence in the discussions. Now it seems the two sides are ready to follow up on their commitments to sit across the table and try to come
to a compromise.
The meeting scheduled for Wednesday will reportedly have Derek Fisher and Billy Hunter, the Executive Director of the NBPA, from the players’ side accompanied by legal counsel Ron Klempner. Representing the league will be San Antonio
Spurs owner Peter Holt, the chairman of the owners' labour relations committee, David Stern and NBA deputy Commissioner Adam Silver.
Although both sides remain strictly committed to their rigid stances, the fact that they are now willing to sit down and talk can only be viewed as a positive development.
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