Saints players react to labor issue

Mike Triplett has a great piece in the Times Picayune about the Saint's players comments on  the breakdown in negotiations for the new CBA. Saint's quarterback Drew Brees is quoted as are many others. The PR war has already started, but these Saints provide an articulate defense to the players position. A word of caution to the fan following this issue. Network reports on the lockout have every reason to be biased in favor of the owners. Not only do they owe the owners $4 billion if the games are not played, they have to negotiate television rights with those same owners. Expect the owners to get better than even treatment and coverage.

NFL labor issues

The NFLPA is passing out cards to players setting the stage to request a vote on decertifying the union as the collective bargaining representative of the players. Rumor has it the Saints have unanimously voted for decertification. It is most unusual for a labor organization to seek to destroy its right to bargain for a group of employees it represents. But in this case NFLPA seems to think decertification is a defense against a potential lockout by owners when the current collective bargaining agreement expires in March. More after the jump.

Brees on NFL labor issues

Saints quarterback Drew Brees is a member of the NFLPA executive committee. As such he speaks for the players union. NFL owners beat the drum about a broken compensation system while Brees essentially says player income is a percentage of revenues. Both team revenue and player salaries are going up. How is that broken? Aint' broke, don't fix it. Think strike - both sides have a lot to lose.

Brees opposes NFL position

Drew Brees has penned an interesting piece in the Washington Post concerning American Needle v. NFL. Thats the case challenging the NFL's right to enter into an exclusive marketing arrangement for stuff with team logos. The small company challenging the NFL's exclusive arrangement with Reebok lost in the lower court which found no anti-trust violation in the deal because the NFL is essentially a single entity for marketing purposes. After the deal took effect the cost of a cap with a team logo increased by ten dollars. If you're thinking what does this have to do with employment law, Saint Drew explains. It seems the NFL is asking the Supreme Court to broaden the ruling. The league wants the Supreme Court to declare the NFL is a single entity for virtually every purpose, rather than 32 extremely competitive football teams. If that were the case, bye bye free agency and the many other advances players earned using the anti-trust laws. Oral argument is set for January 13, 2010. Praise for Drew and more details in this opinion piece from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Fantasy football as termination offense

Well it had to happen at some point. Investment giant Fidelity has fired four fantasy football commissioners for gambling. Now that gambling assessment could be a stretch, but at will employment means good reason, bad reason or no reason at all is a lawful basis for termination. One of the unfortunate cuts claims his only workplace involvement in the league was receipt of an IM involving Trent Edwards and his less than stellar year. Mr. unemployed should have picked Drew.