The National Football League Player’s Association has decided that litigation is their preferred option over negotiation and went ahead with decertification of their Union earlier today amidst actual concessions being offered by the NFL. In return, the NFL has locked out the players effective at 12:00 Eastern tonight.
Both sides of this equation are rich beyond belief and when most of America is still suffering through a recession that won’t go away thanks mostly to gas and oil, today was a strange day for most of us.
I have zero empathy for the NFL or the now defunct NFL players Union. All those folks calling all those shots are ultra wealthy. The Mannings’, Bradys’ and Brees’ of the world can talk about protecting those who aren’t making the exorbitant salaries, and can talk about health care and how NFL players die younger, and suffer from more maladies than any other sector of work. There are serious points to be made there. However, they also need to understand the message they are sending to America and beyond.
The players association quit bargaining. They just quit . They now want the Courts to correct their grievances.
Is anyone seeing any parallel between this and State’s across the Union? What about Wisconsin who effectively just stomped out collective bargaining? The Unions, (workers) didn’t do that. Government (specifically that Governor and Republican Congress) decided they don’t want to allow public employees to bargain collectively.
In the NFL today, the Union (players) made that same exact call. Their actions parallel those of the Wisconsin State Governor and his conservative base. When firefighters, cops, social workers and the like are not allowed to bargain over basics such as salary and benefits by legislation passed by a few in powerful government positions, what should we think when ultra millionaires walk away from that right and actually CHOOSE to quash their bargaining rights to litigate their “injustices?”
Perhaps Brady, Manning and Brees should run for state legislators in, oh I don’t know, Wisconsin! Wasn’t there a pretty good NFL team there somewhere last year?
