Thursday, June 21, 2012

NFL Referees File Unfair Labor Practice Charge Against League

Earlier this month, the NFL and the referee's union failed to come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). At the time, the NFL announced it might bring in replacement officials if the stalemate were to continue into the pre- or regular football season, while the NFLRA accused the NFL of engaging in bad faith practices related to negociating the new CBA.

Apparently the NFL's bad faith practices were so egregious that the NFLRA has filed a charge of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging that since talks broke down in early June, the NFL has twice sent letters to its referees, linesmen, judges and umpires that supposedly contains "inaccurate, false and incomplete information" about the bargaining process.

Specifically, the Referees Association has accused the League of blatantly violating the National Labor Relations Act by bypassing the NFLRA in going straight to its members instead of through the union.

According to the NFL, the League and NFLRA had agreed on a seven-year agreement that would have bestowed salary raises between 5 and 11 percent for the League's professional football referees—In 2011, for instance, a rookie official earning $78,000 annually would expect to earn $165,000 by the conclusion of the proposed agreement period—the official's eighth year in the League, assuming the official had not promoted to Referee and not including bonuses and special event/assignment pay, such as Wild Card, Playoff or Super Bowl fees.

3 comments :

Anonymous said...

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22456489&source=MLB&gid=2012_06_20_cinmlb_clemlb_1 -- How awful was this call by Jim Wolf?

UmpsRule said...

Actually, I don't think it was awful at all. I think he missed it, but it was close. Rick Manning might disagree with me, but that just helps convince me I'm right.

RadioPearl said...

There was a bobble, but he regained control in time. And, regardless what the announcer says, the bobble DID make it a close play.

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