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"A labor deal could be done within the week" - Shnikies - 02-22-2011 12:49 AM
George Cohen, who once taught a course at Georgetown University called the "Art of Collective Bargaining," is now the federal mediator in the middle of the NFL contract talks. That's a source of optimism for one legal observer.
"George is very good," says Roger Abrams, a law professor at Northeastern University in Boston and author of Sports Justice, a book about major sports law cases on the past century.
Mediator George Cohen (in glasses, clapping) helped prevent Major League Soccer from a work stoppage last year.
CAPTION
By Luis Alvarez, AP
"I've always been very optimistic about the prospects for reaching a deal. Now, I think it's possible they may reach a deal within the next week or so," adds Abrams.
As director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Cohen presided over talks for a fourth consecutive day Monday at his office in Washington, D.C. Both sides agreed to the federal mediation, which is non-binding.
Under a directive from Cohen, both sides also have declined comments on the talks. But as Bob Batterman, an NFL outside lawyer, was leaving the talks Sunday he did allow that Cohen is a "first-class mediator."
Cohen, a graduate of Cornell University Law School, was appointed to his post in 2009 by President Obama.
"He's a former union-side attorney," said Abrams. "He in fact represented the Major League Baseball Players Association in the 1995 litigation before Judge (Sonia) Sotomayor that ended the '94 and '95 baseball strike. It's a major step (in the NFL talks) to move toward mediation."
The current collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of the day March 3, and there is a possibility the NFL could impose a player lockout. Abrams said there are "good people" on both sides of the talks.
"Jeff Pash, who I've know for a couple of years, is the general counsel/vice president of the NFL. ... Jeff would not allow a lockout to occur unless it was absolutely necessary," said Abrams.
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RE: "A labor deal could be done within the week" - USAF HART - 02-22-2011 02:47 AM
let's hope that this ends soon. nice find.
RE: "A labor deal could be done within the week" - DaMeatTrough - 02-22-2011 03:01 AM
WINNER!
RE: "A labor deal could be done within the week" - mdrake34 - 02-22-2011 01:29 PM
This is awesome news, but I'll believe it when I see it. They should have gone to mediation a long time ago. It's non-binding, either side can back out.
RE: "A labor deal could be done within the week" - Anomaly - 02-22-2011 01:30 PM
I will shit a brick if it happens in the next two weeks.
RE: "A labor deal could be done within the week" - g-dawg - 02-22-2011 02:45 PM
(02-22-2011 01:29 PM)mdrake34 Wrote: This is awesome news, but I'll believe it when I see it. They should have gone to mediation a long time ago. It's non-binding, either side can back out.
agreed.......its not happening in 1 week, it won't happen in two weeks. I don't see this deal getting done until June. There is no "drop dead" date right now and until the players start missing paychecks - they won't cave. Owners get the TV money whether the games are played or not so they are not sweating this at all.
Players will squeal but not anytime soon.
RE: "A labor deal could be done within the week" - Paulitik - 02-22-2011 03:02 PM
This is wishful thinking. If this was an actual arbitration, I'd feel better about it. I think this mediation business is just for show.
RE: "A labor deal could be done within the week" - DaMeatTrough - 02-22-2011 03:33 PM
Kinda reminds me of the Revis negotiations
RE: "A labor deal could be done within the week" - Arkansas Falcon - 02-22-2011 06:22 PM
It won't happen this quickly, but I do believe that a new CBA will be reached so that the season will go on.
RE: "A labor deal could be done within the week" - ChrisD - 02-22-2011 09:42 PM
As I've said, it won't happen until after the rookie draft.