NBA Referees Go After League For ‘Unfair Labor Practices,’ According To Report

The NBA’s referee union has accused the league of unfair labor practices in a filing with the National Labor Relations Board, reports Yahoo!‘s Adrian Wojnarowski. The NBA has a high-profile standoff with its players’ union coming up at season’s end, as a lockout by franchise owners in advance of the 2011-12 looks likely. But the league’s deal with its officials is also ending. The NBA and referees engaged in bitter, public negotiations in 2009 that led to replacement officials during preseason games. A last-minute deal prevented the NBA from entering the regular season with replacement refs.

The same could happen next season, if there is a season. Woj reports that the referees allege that the NBA has refused to negotiate in good faith on non-financial aspects of a new deal, including discrimination clauses. Discussion over just that subject allegedly led to a famous blow-up from commissioner David Stern.

According to the memo, Stern - referred to as “one of the league’s negotiators” - got angry when the union attorneys sought to include what the union called “standard language found in many collective bargaining agreements” on discrimination.

“One of the league’s negotiators reacted to it with hostility and resorted to the use of an obscene expression in describing its effect,” the memo said. “When the NRBA representatives declined his demand to delete the obscene expression from their notes, this negotiator abruptly left the room.”

Stern and his lawyers will now be forced to explain to the NLRB that it’s playing fair. One of the referees’ key “non-financial” concerns is the league’s ability to fire officials without cause. It’s unclear the last time that happened.