The CFL Players’ Association is now fully preparing to strike next week.
After talks broke down between the league and players – once more on Thursday afternoon, approximately nine hours before the expiration of the present collective bargaining agreement – union president Scott Flory issued a memo to his membership.
In the letter obtained by sportsnet.ca, Flory advised players that a work stoppage is now imminent.
“Please adhere to the terms of your contract, report and participate in training camp. After the votes are conducted in Alberta, we will then ALL serve strike notice and strike together,” the letter reads from Flory, to every CFL player.
Training camps are scheduled to open Sunday league-wide. Alberta labour laws prevent a strike from occurring until 72 hours notice is given, after the expiration of a collective agreement.
Thus, it appears the players will go to their teams as scheduled on the weekend and likely walk early in the week.
Flory’s directive to the union members included direction of what would happen if the players left the field for the picket line.
“Whenever the action takes place we will be banding together and logistically we will find a solution for all of our members,” he wrote Thursday. “This may include leaning on the veterans, alumni and friends of the PA for billeting our players that do not have a place to stay or cannot afford a place of their own.”
Negotiations between the league and players re-started Wednesday, a week after the league broke talks. There was progress throughout the day on Wednesday, and early on Thursday morning.
But it became clear soon after of how far apart both sides are, and Flory said the league informed the players association that talks were “done for the day” early Thursday afternoon.
The owners increased their offer to a salary cap that will average approximately $5.15 million annually, including a ratification bonus, over the course of a five-year collective agreement.
“Unfortunately, this best offer was rejected by the CFLPA executive committee this morning,” CFL commissioner Mark Cohon said in a statement. “We strongly believe it is a fair and equitable agreement for both parties.”
The players proposed a cap of $5.8 million in 2014, that would go up three percent per year, and increases to post-season compensation. The union also maintained its position of eliminating the team option clause from contracts, to essentially allow one-year deals in the league.
“We want to work toward an agreement, and if (the CFLPA’s latest proposal) doesn’t show that we want to work towards an agreement, nothing ever will,” Flory told reporters at a Toronto airport hotel Thursday.
On a player safety side, the CFLPA is insisting an independent neurologist be present on the sidelines for each game – and for padded practices to be limited to one per week (the CFL offer is a maximum of 28 for the season).
“The (league) rejected it, they walked away,” Flory said. “We came here for the last two days with a mandate to get a deal done that’s fair and reasonable to our players. We feel as an executive, as a negotiating committee, we have moved extensively to try to accommodate the concerns of the league and the concerns of our players.”
Flory was insinuating the players removing revenue sharing from the table – a concept the CFL has been steadfast against – was a major concession. Instead of creating a cap attached to revenue, the union proposed a revenue protection clause.
Effectively, that would allow for a fixed cap for a minimum of two years. And if revenue league-wide increased by more than $12 million after 2015, a new collective agreement would be negotiated.
The CFL refused.
“We want football. We want our season to start on time,” Cohon said in the statement. “But not at the cost of the unrealistic proposal put forward by the CFLPA.”
Said Flory: “We hear, we listen, you can see our proposal, the movement we’ve made to try to accommodate and try and make a deal… But it’s apparent from the other side that they’re going to try and dictate terms, and our guys aren’t willing to accept that.”
Both Cohon and CFL president Mike Copeland wrote that they hope the union would present the latest league offer to the players for a vote.
“This isn’t negotiations,” Flory said Thursday. “We expect to hear from them. They said they’d get back to us.”
No further talks are planned between the league and the CFLPA, meaning the work stoppage is likely now just days away. And Flory’s final line to the players, in the internal memo to the membership, was clear: “We assure you we will take care of our own,” he said.
