The problems facing the NFLPA are the same problems facing American labor in general. Labor’s been fighting a rearguard action while corporations gobble up more and more profits.
Rise ‘n Grind: You shouldn’t be surprised by the NFLPA election results
Football players are just workers like the rest of us. The state of labor in the NFL and a whole bunch of great links for your reading pleasure in Monday’s most essential link dump.
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There’s obviously enough lingering bitterness among players over the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement, rightfully so. Enough to draw more scrutiny for the NFLPA from its own players and enough to support a list of insurgent candidates challenging for the union’s top spot, but incumbent DeMaurice Smith won his third term, on the first ballot.
Players have a right to be uneasy with their standing right now. The NFL doubled down on its power with a new personal conduct policy that looks a lot like the old one, with power concentrated in the commissioner’s hands. Teams laid out more than $1.3 billion in the first 72 hours of free agency. That sounds like a windfall but it’s not money as equally distributed among all members in large part because the CBA has opened to the door to cheaper rookies at the expense of veterans.
De Smith’s challengers also raised important questions about how the union itself does business, and there are plenty of internal problems for members to question. These problems aren’t unique to the NFLPA. The bureaucratization of America’s unions has put labor uncomfortably close to management while putting a greater distance between leaders and membership. And then there’s the problem of organized labor becoming little more than a semi-official part of the political party system.
There’s never really been a unified class consciousness in the United States of America’s individualist ethos, the Horatio Alger bullshit and a stubborn insistence to identify ourselves as middle class, whether you make $20,000 or $200,000 a year.
The ownership class has taken advantage of those things. Profits have skyrocketed thanks to a system designed to protect and enrich those at the very top and grease the skids to the system tilted in their favor. These are the kind of people who buy professional football teams as a secondary business interest and something of a hobby, and they have nearly all the power at the bargaining table (remember, owners had a billion dollar war chest thanks to their DirecTV deal to withstand a prolonged labor action in 2011).
I can’t tell you why no candidate was able to parlay that discontent into a win in Sunday’s NFLPA election. Representatives had enough of a comfort level with Smith that they didn’t need more than one vote. The changes proposed by the most credible rival candidates wouldn’t come without a strike, a long one. Whether or not the union is willing to take that step (and they had the chance in 2011) doesn’t really matter because the owners have more leverage, not to mention their day jobs, to withstand direct action. No candidate for the NFLPA head was going to change that.
Reading list
It’s Mock draft Monday! - Fire up the angry comments, Dan Kadar has a new mock draft for your perusal.
Just visiting - Marcus Mariota is visiting the Buccaneers on Monday. He visited Gruden’s quarterback camp over the weekend.
The next Blount? - The Steelers don’t make a lot of waves in free agency, but they did make an addition signing running back DeAngelo Williams last week. It looks like he’ll give them a slightly improved version of LeGarrette Blount on the field, ideally.
Pass rushers wanted - Atlanta’s defense is still missing a few parts, important parts, with the first wave of free agency over now.
To the HOF - Patrick Willis’ candidacy for the Hall of Fame looks like a slam dunk to me, but some are holding his short career against him already. Chase Stuart makes a great case for him.
Remember Adrian Peterson? - Yeah, that whole thing is still going on. Here’s the latest.
“In their prime” - Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie has a new spin on his team’s free agent plans.
Wilfork’s decision - He’s down to just three teams, including a reunion with some of his teammates from The U in Indianapolis.
Getting away with it - Another day, another important view of just what in the hell Chip Kelly is trying to do.
A different route - Typically, players go from the field to the sideline, not from the sideline to the field like new Broncos tight end Joe Don Duncan.
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