For players, one of the key sticking points in the proposal that NFL owners have passed to end the NFL Lockout - aside from some provisions involving revenue sharing, and the fact that it includes anything at all that the players haven’t agreed to yet - is its suggestion that the players have to form a union by a certain date.
NFLPA Hints At Coercion In NFL Lockout Settlement Proposal From Owners
An email from the NFLPA makes clear that the owners’ apparent attempts to get the players to form a union could be illegal, in that the owners can’t force players to form a union. And by using language that suggests that the union needs to recertify by next Wednesday, they appear to be making recertification a precondition of reaching an agreement and ending the lockout.
“In addition to depriving the players of the time needed to consider forming a union and making needed changes to the old agreement, this proposed procedure would in my view also violate federal labor laws,” the email read. “Those laws prohibit employers from coercing their employees into forming a union, and could result in any agreement reached through the procedure being declared null and void.”
Gabe Feldman, an NFL Network legal analyst, says that the fix here might be a simple one: simply say that NFL Training Camps will start on the condition that the players recertify the union “at some point.” Not next Wednesday, but at some point in the future.
For more on the NFL Lockout, keep following this storystream.
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