LeHab
Registered User
- Aug 31, 2005
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TORONTO — The CFL and CFL Players’ Association are now into marathon bargaining.
According to a pair of sources, the two sides met into the night Monday and got a head start on talks early Tuesday morning, with the expectation that negotiations will again go into the night. This round of bargaining began Sunday night and Tuesday’s session was the final scheduled face-to-face session prior to the end of the current deal, which is set to expire Saturday.
However, that doesn’t prevent the league and its players from continuing to talk past Tuesday and schedule additional sessions. The mere fact the two sides are still at the negotiating table and putting in long hours can certainly be seen as a positive sign.
Last week, union executive director Brian Ramsay painted a rather negative picture regarding the state of negotiations. He emerged from three days of talks saying the two sides weren’t “necessarily where we need to be right now,” in order to reach a settlement.
However, for the first time in these negotiations the CFL and CFLPA met on a weekend (Sunday) and continued talking into the evening (Monday).
The league and players are now negotiating monetary items, which is always a potentially contentious discussion. And last week there was persistent talk they remained far apart on many fronts.
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The CFL faces a threat of a partial strike at the start of training camp if a new deal can’t be reached by Saturday. Ramsay said last week without a new agreement players with the B.C. Lions, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Montreal Alouettes wouldn’t report to the start of their respective training camps.
That’s because they’d be in a legal strike position and have been instructed by the union not to show up.
Players on CFL teams in Alberta (Edmonton and Calgary) and Ontario (Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton) have been told to report to the start of camp because Ramsay said they won’t be in a legal strike position until May 23.
CFL, CFL Players’ Association into marathon collective bargaining talks
Not following much CFL or their CBA saga but surprised there is no talk of an actual lockout but rather players strike. Would think past experiences of MLB when players were not locked out would be a good lesson learned? Although players do not intend to start the season without a new deal in place so perhaps this isn't much of a issue.
