[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Peter May: Players Meeting Determines Future Of Lockout
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
Arbitrator sides with NBA owners
By Peter May, Globe Staff, 10/20/98
[Image]he same city that accepted Mike Tyson back yesterday will host an NBA
players union meeting this week. Las Vegas is many things, but will it
be the birthplace of a settlement as well?
Yesterday, arbitrator John Feerick finally released his decision on whether
NBA players are entitled to be paid during the league-imposed lockout, which
already has resulted in the cancellation of two weeks of the season. Feerick
took the full 30 days to decide what any first-year law school student knew:
The players don't get paid. As a result, the union will meet this week in Las
Vegas, parade its marquee players for the first time in a show of unity, and
decide what to do next.
Meanwhile, NBA commissioner David Stern sent a letter to union chief Billy
Hunter, offering to meet as soon as possible and restating the league's
bargaining position. Stern asked that the letter be distributed to the
players, but Hunter balked, saying he wanted a chance to talk to them first.
Stern also said that yesterday's decision should have been ``a signal to
return'' immediately to the bargaining table. Right now, the earliest any
talks could be held would be Friday.
Clearly, Feerick's ruling was a big victory for the owners. All sorts of
gloom-and-doom scenarios were being painted if teams had to cough up more than
$800 million to players for not playing. The union made the unusual request
just before the lockout was imposed last July 1 and Hunter said yesterday,
``We thought the law was on our side.''
It wasn't. Feerick, who disappointed the NBA with his decision in the Latrell
Sprewell arbitration, has a background in labor law. This was a slam dunk. The
only mystery is why it took him so long.
Several players were due to be paid this summer, including the Celtics' Kenny
Anderson, and those who were on a regular payment schedule will miss the Nov.
15 check at the least.
Incredibly, Hunter did not give up the lost wages issue, saying it would be
addressed and that the NBA ``would have to make up the shortfall.'' That
position was met, head-on, by Stern and NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik
with predictable results.
``Those dollars have been lost,'' Granik said. ``They are not entitled to be
paid for games that have been canceled. I don't ever see the owners ever
agreeing to pay.''
Added Stern, ``The players don't seem to realize they can't get the money
back. It's gone, gone forever.''
It's hard to see how the Feerick decision will move the stalled talks. The two
sides are miles apart on the economic issues. The league insists on some sort
of control on spiraling salaries. The union wants no limits on what its
players can make.
Hunter said many of the game's big names would be in Las Vegas for Thursday's
meeting, including Shaquille O'Neal, who was due his entire $15 million check
on Oct. 1, and Michael Jordan, who has been silent on the struggle of the
masses. Also due, according to Hunter, are Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Alonzo
Mourning, and union president Patrick Ewing.
``It's time to step forward,'' Hunter said. ``I always said, `never let a boy
do a man's job.' And the men are coming to Las Vegas.''
Hunter said he and Ewing talked to approximately 20 players after the Feerick
decision and said they were even ``more rabid'' in their determination to get
what they feel is a fair deal.
Before the players' meeting on Thursday, there will be a meeting of the agents
advisory board tomorrow. The sessions will be held at Caesars Palace.
One of the issues bound to be discussed is decertification. The union tried to
decertify three years ago, but the membership voted it down. Hunter would say
only that decertification would be a topic of discussion. Stern repeated his
position that only bargaining would bring an end to the impasse.
``Unfair labor practices, decertification, antitrust lawsuits are not going to
get it done,'' the commissioner said. ``It's only going to cost the owners
money, the players money, and the fans the game.''
Stern's letter to Hunter offered a guarantee that salaries would rise by at
least 20 percent over the next four years. If more money came in, the union
would receive addditional payments. He also said that the NBA's luxury tax
proposal would apply only to players re-signed by their own teams.
This story ran on page E01 of the Boston Globe on 10/20/98.
© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company. term: