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| 3rd February, 2006 - 5:54 am | Washington Post - NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw upped the stakes in the league's labor dispute Thursday, saying he will recommend to players next month that they begin the process of decertifying the union if no deal for an extension of the collective bargaining agreement is in place.
The tactic would be an attempt to prevent players from being locked out by owners, and could set the stage for an antitrust lawsuit by players if owners were to impose new work rules that the players didn't like.
The league's current labor deal keeps its salary-cap system in place through the 2006 season, then there would be a season without a salary cap in 2007 before the deal expires. Negotiations between the owners and players on an extension have been stalled.
"In '08, if we don't have a deal, knowing the way the NFL works, they will try to implement something," Upshaw said at a news conference. "We will cease to be a union. We will start that process quickly. In our opinion, we'll have to end up in antitrust court, and we like our chances there."
The new league year begins March 3, and the players are scheduled to have an executive board meeting six days later. If there's no labor deal before that meeting, Upshaw and other union leaders said, union leaders will recommend to players that they start the decertification process.
"That process will start on March 9, one way or another. . . . We're not going to be sitting there at the end of '06 not knowing what to do," Upshaw said. "We will make that decision very quickly. . . . It will be addressed with the players, and they will decide what course to take." [READ] |
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