CBA Update: Talks continue

to the players position re: salaries, termination of contracts, they are being absolutely pig-headed about free agency. It’s not going to happen in this CBA. Period. The owners don’t have to withstand a work stoppage, all they do is shut the league down, for good. When 12 of 16 teams (give or take) are losing money, it’s not like any owner is going to shed tears over the league dying, except maybe losing a nice tax write-off. Our own Joe Roth and Paul Allen might be super-rich with a full stadium, but the real powers behind the Wizard of Garber’s curtain, AEG and the Krafts, are not going to throw away single-entity under any circumstance in 2010. Maybe in 2014, but not today. I don’t mean to direct this rant at anyone here, I am just super effing frustrated with the posturing and greed by MLS players and owners.

But I’d say this is pretty official. The union has essentially confirmed the strike vote story.

Recent comments from players simply reflect the fact that the players are unified and, per the results of our strike vote, will not begin the new season if a new agreement with the league is not reached," the union said in a statement Thursday. "This is not a change in position by the union and should not be read to reflect in any way upon what has, or has not, occurred this week in the meetings with the mediator and the league."

Essentially, this means the players will not be showing up to work on March 23 if a new CBA isn’t signed.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/TorontoFC/2010/03/11/13191231-qmi.html

It talks about how the system is suppose to work. I’d quote a section of the article but I’m not sure how to do that.

Supposedly the teams only have 48 hours to hold on to the rights if another team expresses interest in the player. My question then is Why has it taken this long for the out of contract veterans to be signed?

According to at least a few blogs, the union hasn’t actually voted to strike, they’ve voted to authorize a strike vote. That would be a pretty simple explanation for the extreme unity, since players haven’t actually committed to walking off the job.

The union statements seem to point to a much more unambiguous result, so I’m trying to contact some people who know about this stuff.

Just found this Jeff Carlisle tweet, which suggests some people in the union certainly think they’ve authorized an actual strike:

JeffreyCarlisle
I asked union source if they needed to vote on strike again. He said “No.” Said power to strike is in hands of bargaining committee.

OK, hate to do this all piecemeal, but Fake Sigi has a great take on where we are right now:

As to the mechanics of the players actually striking, and whether there has to be another vote before a strike can occur, my sense is that the players will put at least one proposed agreement before the whole membership before striking. While the negotiating team may not need another member vote to order a strike, and while the rank and file rejecting an proposal with concessions from the owners on guaranteed contracts and unilateral options is uncertain at best, I think striking without voting on an agreement runs the very high risk of introducing severe, fatal fractures in what has so far been a united union public front. Contrary to what Duane thinks, if the union membership doesn’t perceive the bargaining committee to be acting in its best interests, dissent in the ranks will show up real quick.

All this does is confirm my initial hunch from late last month about the senseless posturing and “lack of good faith” non-negotiating stance from the League, hidden in their disingenuous “offer” to “not have a lockout” and “keep operating under the old CBA”

All that accomplishes is blame-shifting towards the Players, who now have to strike rather than be locked-out to achieve their quite legitimate goals of negotiating a new CBA that evolves players rights in the correct direction.

This “blame shifting” is typical of what we have see in this country in recent generations, and helps to demonstrate why we have become a nation that favors management and resents unions…

I was struggling to grasp how the season could possibly start in earnest without a new CBA… and all this news does in my mind is confirm what i have been thinking since January…

He has some interesting stuff to say. He does appear to reveal, for the first time I’ve seen anyway, that the players want a 20 percent raise of the salary cap, which would be about $460,000 per team. He also seems to indicate that this is one of the sticking points, which is also the first time I’ve heard this. Anyway, worth a read.