Player’s union to meet on Monday for discussion on NBA proposal – NBA Labour Dispute Update
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) will meet on Monday to discuss in detail the current proposal made by the NBA. NBA Commissioner David Stern offered the deal for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to
Billy Hunter, the executive director of the NBPA, and said no more negotiations would be held from here on in.
The take it or leave it deal is another disappointing one from the owners, who have stuck to their demands and not rewarded NBA players for significant concessions made. Therefore it comes as no surprise that a majority of the
players is already sceptical about the offer.
Nevertheless, the union will meet on Monday, November 14, to chart out a proper response to Stern’s offer. They are widely expected to reject the deal and could even go towards a decertification of the union.
The players are considering such a drastic step because of the indifferent attitude displayed by NBA owners throughout the negotiations. Owners have demanded vast salary cuts from players, on top of hugely restrictive modifications
in other areas.
"We haven't asked for anything more than what we had," Miami player representative James Jones said Sunday according to ESPN. "We understand the times. We understand the economy. We just want a fair deal where both sides are bearing
the weight of the present times and with an eye on the future of the game of basketball."
A fair deal though is not at the top of Stern’s agenda. The NBA commissioner, backed by greedy owners, wants as much of the Basketball Related Income that he can get his hands on. In the previous CBA players received 57 percent
of the BRI whilst in Stern’s latest offer they will get only 50 percent.
To add insult to injury, the NBA has threatened to present even harsher terms if the union rejects its current proposal. Stern has said that if the NBPA does not accept the terms on offer, owners will revert to demanding a 53 percent
share in the BRI, hard salary caps and other taxing new measures.
"We're not going to cancel the season this week," Stern said. "We're just going to present them what we told them we would."
The Commissioner and his deputy, Adam Silver, took to twitter over the weekend in a bid put a shine on their unimpressive proposal but weren’t able to counter the stinging questions posed on the social networking site.
Some NBA players also took turns to criticize the NBA on twitter, alongside fed-up NBA fans. The consensus among the players currently appears to be against the new deal, their official response is now set to come on Monday.
Tags: