Simplifying The NFL Labor Discussion
On Thursday, the current collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the Players' Union is set to expire, triggering the first step leading towards a lockout of the players.
Much of the legal talk surrounding the impending NFL lockout is confusing to fans. That's why The Score has Eldon Ham on staff, to break down and simplify what could happen, and why, between now and Thursday.
"There are several different possibilities, but the one coming up is Thursday," Ham, The Score's Legal Analyst, said on the Boers and Bernstein Show. "And that is the day that actually the the union has to decide...that if they are going to decertify, they almost have to do it on or before Thursday. Because the collective bargaining agreement in place, actually provides that once they let it expire, the union has agreed not to decertify for six months after that. So if they are going to do it, they have to do it now, which is why everyone seems to think it's fairly imminent.
LISTEN: Eldon Ham On The Boers And Bernstein Show
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"Now why does it matter? In fact it's an unusual thing. Labor law experts say that's it's very unusual. Unions almost never decertify, but the world of sports is a little bit different. Having a union in place, actually give the NFL an exemption from activities that might ordinarily be deemed anti-trust violations. Ant-trust, for this purpose, is literally any contract combination or conspiracy that interferes with commerce, or hurts competition. The NFL Draft, for example, hurts competition. There's a lot of things the NFL does that in the ordinary world would be anti-trust violations. They are unique to the world of sports.
"Now having a union in place evokes a line a law that says that when you have a union, and collective bargaining, the parties can end up with activities by the employer that do violate anti-trust, but it's exempt because you have a union in place. That's why this union keeps threatening to decertify, and run away so to speak, so that they can, and the hint is fairly clear, so that they can sue the NFL for anti-trust violations over all the things they do as 32 teams conspiring together: the Draft, the salary cap and a host of others."
