“Russell Okung makes vague claim of bad-faith bargaining by NFL”

[WarPanthers89]

The NFL Players Association conducted the first day of their annual meetings on Sunday, four days before the window closes on voting for the new CBA. And Panthers tackle Russell Okung, the only known candidate (so far) for NFLPA president, has capped the day with a tweet that implies the NFL has violated the relevant labor laws regarding collective bargaining.

Okung has posted a document titled “Elements and Indicators of ‘Bad Faith’ Bargaining,” explaining that the federal National Labor Relations Board has the authority to explore whether that kind of conduct is occurring. The document lists various “elements and indicators” of bad-faith conduct.

However, there has been no allegation or indication that the NFL has done any of the things listed in the document, or that the league otherwise has acted in bad faith under the law. The mere suggestion of bad-faith bargaining overlooks the reality that the current CBA is the result of negotiations between the NFL and NFLPA, resulting in a proposed agreement that NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith has publicly said he is “proud” of.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFLPA has no idea what Okung (who is a member of the Executive Committee, which helped negotiate the deal on which players are voting) is referring to. And here’s the reality: Okung aspires to be the next president of the union. With the vote coming up on Tuesday, Okung needs to do something to get at least 17 members of the board of player representatives to eventually vote for him. Given that 17 members of the board already have voted for the CBA, it will be hard for Okung (who strongly opposes the deal) to muster the votes. His tweet, frankly, feels like a Hail Mary pass to get one or more reps to see things his way.

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/

[raz]

does anyone else hear cast iron pans clunking together when they say russel's last name?

[bababoey]

The new CBA helps 2 groups of people that play in the NFL.  The bottom 1/2 or 2/3 of the roster that is making NFL min salary and the older guys that are trying to play 1 or 2 more years.  The big name guys that make alot of money, which is only about 10-12 per team is does not really help that much.  At least not immediately.  When the NFL gets new TV deals for the 17th game and the extra playoff game it will grow the pie and increase the players percentage from 47 to 48.5%.  However if you just signed a new deal ( hello Russell Wilson and Aaron Rogers) it is not going to benefit them really until the sign a new deal.  All those guys are against it because it means more games and more changes to get hurt  and they are not getting anything out of it.  

The min salary is getting increased everywhere and now 2 guy who make veteran min don't count against the cap at all.  So those guys like it.  But all you are hearing from is the big stars because media. 

[sigchi22]

Russell Okung's lawyer makes vague claim of bad-faith bargaining by NFL.

 

FIFY.

 

[Ship]

It's not a "vague claim" it's a specific claim and has been filed with the NLRB.

Quote

In the filing, Okung is accusing NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith of pushing a vote on the new CBA through to the entire group of players despite the objections and vote of the NFLPA executive committee.

During a February vote, the executive committee voted 6-5 not to recommend the proposed CBA to players. After a meeting with owners during the NFL combine, the executive committee again remained in majority on its desire not to recommend the proposed deal.

The NFLPA then took a vote of all 32 team player reps in Indianapolis, with the vote being 17-14 to approve the deal, with one player abstaining. The NFLPA needs a two-thirds vote to pass the deal along to the full player group with recommendation, but short of that number it decided to still move the vote to the full player group without recommendation because it received a simple majority vote to approve.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28872617/russell-okung-files-complaint-nflpa-nlrb

[Wes21]

9 hours ago, Ship said:

It's not a "vague claim" it's a specific claim and has been filed with the NLRB.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28872617/russell-okung-files-complaint-nflpa-nlrb

So his big gripe is that the players themselves will actually get to vote on it, and not just a select committee?  That sounds like "we know what is best for you, so we can't let you decide for yourselves."

[kungfoodude]

9 hours ago, sigchi22 said:

Russell Okung's lawyer makes vague claim of bad-faith bargaining by NFL.

 

FIFY.

 

I am sure Okung is more than capable of discerning the NFL's intent as a member of the executive committee. The fact is that it appears that the NFLPA leadership appears to be compromised and is attempting to ram through a deal, despite the NFLPA committees not having enough support to allow a player vote. 

[kungfoodude]

16 minutes ago, Wes21 said:

So his big gripe is that the players themselves will actually get to vote on it, and not just a select committee?  That sounds like "we know what is best for you, so we can't let you decide for yourselves."

It may seem that way on the surface and be an imperfect system but the system is specifically structured that way to protect the players from having a bad deal shoved down their throat that the union leadership objects to. 

The fact is, most players will not take the time to be educated about the issues and were also not directly involved in the negotiations. It isn't unique to the NFLPA, almost all unionized labor suffers from this. Membership often does not stay educated enough about the issues, hence the need for those leadership committees to exist. Again, if your leaders are not strong or don't have the full membership's best interests in mind, it can compromise the whole situation. 

But, I can understand Okung's reservations about ramming that deal through without approval. It is operating outside of the processes put into place to protect the union from those bad faith bargaining tactics and accepting a bad deal without understanding it.

If you don't think that large groups of people that are completely and wholly ignorant of almost any issues can be blinded by small matters and make horrible choices during a vote.......take a hard look at the American two party political system. 

[Happy Panther]

 

[Mr. Scot]

From what I've been reading, it sounds like a lot of people are treating this CBA as a referendum on DeMaurice Smith.

[kungfoodude]

2 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

From what I've been reading, it sounds like a lot of people are treating this CBA as a referendum on DeMaurice Smith.

I think he is largely viewed as being too "NFL friendly" correct?

[Mr. Scot]

6 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

I think he is largely viewed as being too "NFL friendly" correct?

The Players Association has come off as sounding more on board with the current offer than a lot of their members do.

Eric Reid called it a disaster waiting to happen just yesterday, I think.