Tampa Bay Lightning's Steven Stamkos terms labour union wanting 'fair deal' -NHL Update
What seemed pretty clear to the world was made official by Tampa Bay Lightning’s superstar forward, Steven Stamkos, that the labour union consisting of the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) as just looking for a “Fair Deal” from the league.
The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is set to come to an end on September 15, later on this year and could put a strain on both stakeholders, head into a lockout, and force numerous problems in getting the regular season back up and running.
Instead of trying to make a balanced offer, the league went all out in their first official proposal and tried to force the labour union into cutting out all sorts of privileges they enjoyed.
According to the Players’ Association, they are trying to find common ground while the league is not cooperating along and is hoping for a lockout to come into play as they will not budge on their stance.
"That was the message," Stamkos said, "trying to find a medium where we can help those higher-income teams and help some of the teams who are struggling and find a way we can do that where both parties will be happy. Both parties want to start the season
on time. We saw what can happen with previous (work stoppages) and we don't want that. We just want a fair deal that can hopefully start the season on time."
Executive director of the NHLPA, Donald Fehr, was also of the view that having a mutual consensus would be best for both sides in the long run.
"The proposal the players made, once implemented, can produce a stable industry … that gives us a chance to move beyond the recurring labor strife that has plagued the NHL the last two decades," Fehr said.
It is not sure at the moment whether a new deal will come into play before the deadline or whether a lockout will happen despite attempts to divert it. Updates can be expected in the upcoming days as both the labour union and league continue to meet on a
daily basis and negotiate on a new deal.
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