David Stern knows the league is coming up against it now. The players know the season — and their paychecks — are in jeopardy. Pressure is mounting as the league has canceled games. With deadlines slowly passing, the pressure to get a deal done is slowly dissipating.
The parties at this point have likely tired of hearing each other talk. It is time to get a new voice in the room.
And so enters George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, in to help the two sides out and add a new voice to an already contentious and possibly stalemated negotiation. Everyone seems to believe Cohen will help.
“This arbitrator is an extraordinary individual,” said NBA agent/attorney Steve Kauffman, who has paled cases before Cohen when he did some arbitration work for the Players Association, to Marc Berman of the New York Post. “The thing about him is, he’s not just good, fair, insightful. He doesn’t have a big ego, there’s no pretense to him. It would be impossible for the owners not to respect this man. I’ve met thousands of lawyers in my life. He may be the best one I’ve ever seen.”
That certainly is a good sign that we could see some progress Tuesday when the two sides get together. Berman reports Cohen has been spending the last few days talking with representatives from the players and the owners to familiarize himself with the issues and get down to work quickly when the two sides are in the same room.
A fresh look at these issues could help the two sides find middle ground. That is what mediation is supposed to do.
It is important in looking at what could come out of this mediation session is what actually happens in mediation. Cohen’s role is not to solve the problem. He has no binding authority — this is not an arbitration where the two parties submit their case to a disinterested third person and have them make a ruling. Cohen’s role is to help the two sides find common ground to solve their problem. He is going to help generate new ideas and find a new way to approach these problems.
And hopefully he can convince the two parties to take a step back and approach the issues with this new approach. That willingness to listen to the mediator and work to make progress is ultimately what will determine if this process is successful or not.
Again, the mediator is not going to make any decisions for the players or the owners. He is merely there to facilitate their negotiations and help them along.
When the parties are not willing to listen and not willing to participate, mediation is pointless and will lead nowhere. Both parties have to check their egos at the door. And that can be difficult considering David Stern seems always to consider himself the smartest man in the room and considering the reports that several superstar players established the hard line that ended the previous round of talks.
Cohen though is very highly respected. As one NBA source told Berman: “George is the only guy I’ve seen as smart as David Stern. And David knows it.”
If Cohen has both sides’ ears, progress could be made, and we might save some part of the season before Christmas. There is an opportunity here to solve some major problems with a fresh approach. But right now, all it is is an opportunity. It is not a guarantee that something will happen tomorrow.
The league’s latest overture with the NLRB was turned down and the NLRB will not dismiss the players’ unfair labor practice charge. Reportedly the recommendation from the regional office has been turned over to the national office in Washington, D.C. for a final decision. They could file a complaint with an injunction preventing the league from locking out the players until they complete a full investigation. This is a powerful weapon the players have. But, at the same time, we do not know when the NLRB will make its ruling.
Uncertainty is killing everyone obviously.
Hopefully a new voice and a new look at the problems will help clarify things.
