Second Straight Meeting with Mediators fails between League, Players' Association -NHL Update
Without previous announcement, the National Hockey League (NHL) and Players’ Association met for a second straight time this week with the federal mediators in order to balance a labour deal between them, but have failed to make any substantial progress
up until now.
Both sides were not very talkative about what went on when dealing with the federal mediators, but they announced another meeting to be held on Friday, for the third consecutive day.
“There has been contact between the parties today, principally at the mediator’s office,” NHLPA special counsel, Steve Fehr said. “I’ve met with the mediator, Bob Batterman — outside counsel for the league — has been there. We’ve met separately through the
mediator at times, we’ve met together, Don was over there very briefly.”
Mediators came back into the scene when talks between the two stakeholders collapsed earlier last week as players and team owners sat for the very first time in over three months ever since the lockout officially came into force. It looked as if a deal was
about to come out of the candid meeting between the two but surprisingly failed due to a weak follow up by the league and Players’ Association.
“I think we’re done with contact for tonight,” Fehr added.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was not reported to have been a part of the meetings, along with deputy commissioner Bill Daly, who usually takes his place. It seemed odd that the two main representatives of the league were not present, but have also been
reported to held separate meetings with the mediators.
For now, neither side knows whether a face-to-face meeting is scheduled for Friday, as it could also be over the phone, but one thing is clear for sure now and that is federal mediators are here to stay at the moment since all other options have failed.
Updates should be expected in the next 24-48 hours as both sides continue to negotiate, but nothing miraculous in regards to the lockout coming to an end should be looked forward to. Both sides are working something out, but it is still unclear what that
is.
Tags: