Quote:
Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule
kinda -
1 -the owners opted out 2 years ago. Had they not done that the current CBA would have been in place for 2 more years, and the 2011 season would not be in jeopardy.
(note that the language to opt out was such that either party could opt out. Clearly the players were not going to because they like the CBA as it was written. The owners took their legal option to opt out, now most on the players' side make it sound like that was the sole cause for where we are)
2 - the CBA included provisions for handling labor law at the expiration:
so basically, in Section 2, both sides agree that Antitrust doesn't apply during the CBA.
then Section 3 deals with AFTER the CBA expires
in Section 3a the owners are promised that no antitrust action will be taken until 6 months or a mediation impasse occur
and in Section 3b the players are assured that the NFL will not declare a decertification (again after the CBA expires) a sham.
(It seems clear to me, that the NFLPA didn't honor this in the spirit it was intended. That is, it gave both sides assurances of good faith behaviour, and the NFLPA circumvented those assurances in order to gain a huge strong arm tactic over the NFL.)
3 - whether the decertification is illegal is at the center of the case before the appeals court. That is why the fact that it will be expedited and ruled on before July is an excellent thing. By the spirit of the above CBA, the decertification certainly exhibits some degree of bad faith to honor the 6 month period both had agreed upon.
In my opinion, the owners violated good faith in the TV deals, and the players violated good faith by decertifying before the CBA expired (note section 2 both sides agreed to maintain Anti-trust protection for the term of the CBA. Basically the owners didn't get the right legal-ese to protect themselves from the NFLPA breaking the spirit of the agreement)
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It was my understanding that as you said there would be no suit AFTER the CBA expired.. as long as the NFLPA (union) was still in place. and as you pointed out nothing can occurr legally until after 6 months which is the mediation process. Then the Union could file suit.
But because the Union/players didn't want to wait the 6 months to file their law suits and wanted to have the upper hand they decertified early prior to the CBA so they could file their law suits. The only thing the owners could do to protect themselves was lock out. Again this is what I'm to understand. I could be wrong. I'm just trying to clarify.
basically the owners were trying to force something the players didn't want, the players decertified in attempts to force the owners to do something they didn't want, then the owners locked out to again force the players to do something they don't want. Now it's in the courts hands. The owners are hoping the courts will be fair and say they can keep the extra billion or atleast split it 50/50. The players are hoping the courts look at it and say no the owners can not take away from what you already have.