Multiple sources have reported that the NBA players union has fired off a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday alleging the NBA is engaging in unfair labor practices.
For the players, their collective bargaining agreement expires on June 30th and this new claim seeks to stop the NBA and the owners from entering into a lockout.
The complaint, in part, alleges the NBA is “making harsh, inflexible, and grossly regressive ‘takeaway’ demands that the NBA knows are not acceptable to the Union.
The complaint further alleges the NBA is engaging in “classic ‘take it or leave it’ and surface bargaining” with the intent of running out the clock on the CBA, “until the NBA locks out the represented employees in order to coerce them into accepting the NBA’s harsh and regressive demands.”
Sources have told ESPN.com that the players were so infuriated by the owners’ latest proposal, which seeks a nearly 40 percent rollback in existing contracts over three years and a hard salary cap, that the union would explore a variety of legal options before presenting another formal counterproposal.
For their part, the NBA has claimed that they have acted on good faith and will continue to negotiate in that manner.
This is very similar to what the referees union did back on April 6th as they are also battling the NBA over a new collective bargaining agreement,with the current one expiring on September 1st.
It seems now that only a miracle or a complete reversal by one side would salvage an agreement before the deadline expires. A move like the one made by the NFL players on March 11 that de-certified their own union so that they could take the NFL to court hasn’t been discussed but if negotiations continue to stall than anything could be possible.
The 1998-99 NBA lockout that lasted from July 1, 1998 to January 20, 1999 was the third and last time a lockout occurred in the history of the league, shortening the season to just 50 games.
