Labor & Employment Law

First NFL Work Stoppage Since 1987 Begins As Owners Lock Out Players

That Point of No Return has Passed – the NFL Lockout Begins

Midnight Friday, March 11, National Football League owners and players put one of the country's most popular sport events on hold by breaking off labor negotiations hours before their contract expired. After spending hours negotiating and despite two extensions to the collective bargaining agreement during 16 days of talks overseen by federal mediation, the sides could not agree. The union decertified and the league forced a player lockout as of midnight Saturday.
The league said that it was 'taking the difficult but necessary step of exercising its right under federal labor law to impose a lockout of the union,' and called on the union to return to negotiations immediately.

The onset of litigation could send a business – one that has prided itself on stability - into a period of uncertainty during a time of record popularity and revenues. This court fight and work stoppage could cost both sides hundreds of millions of dollars and could threaten the 2011 season causing the possible cancellation of games later this year- for the first time since 1987. The last time NFL games were lost lead to games played with replacement players.

Without a new collective bargaining agreement, will the league and its players want to risk dragging fans into a world without rules - one we would surely see carrying unintended consequences?

For more....

Point of No Return Passed, NFL Lockout Begins

As NFL Talks Collapse, Players Disband Union

Full post as published by Strategic HR Lawyer on March 18, 2011 (boomark / email).