Union makes big move without polling members

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by SlyPokerDog, Nov 14, 2011.

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  1. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    The last time the NBA and the players association met, the meeting ended early Friday morning with an offer from the league. The NBA then sent that offer in writing to every player, and quietly prayed that the union would let the players vote on it, expecting it would pass and the NBA season would begin.

    It never happened, however. Instead of putting the decision to 450 players, the union put the decision to 30 player representatives who, the union says, were unanimous in rejecting the deal and taking new legal action.

    As soon as that decision was announced, I asked union spokesman Dan Wasserman, who was standing in the back of the room next to attorney Jeffrey Kessler, why the union was turning to the group of 30 representatives.

    The union has three player bodies it can consult: The executive committee, the 30 elected representatives and the full membership. Why that middle body?

    I was asking what I thought was a fairly boring question. I would have been satisfied with a response about by-laws or somesuch. But Wasserman and Kessler blew up. I couldn't even finish the question before both were loud, gruff and dismissive.

    The gist of the response was that you cannot give your adversary direct access to the membership. "That's not how any union in America, that I'm aware of, operates," said Kessler. If the NBA is just going to send offers straight to the players, why even have a union? The idea is that the union is savvier, and knows a good deal when it sees one. And only when the union is sure that the deal is in players' best interests will they present it to the workers.

    Rockets guard Kevin Martin, by text on Monday morning, said he didn't care to be represented that way: "I think it's fair for every player to have a vote, because we're all grown men and its time for the players to control their career decisions, and not one player per team. If it comes down to a final decision, you got to be fair."

    He added that other players he had talked to may or may not have voted for the deal the NBA had on the table, but "most feel like we're entitled to a vote!"

    To hear David Stern tell it, skipping that vote was a key misstep. Speaking to ESPN's "SportsCenter" he said: "The union decided in its infinite wisdom that the proposal would not be presented to membership. Obviously, Mr. Kessler got his way and we are about to go into the nuclear winter of the NBA."

    http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/33289/union-makes-big-move-without-polling-members
     
    SlyPokerDog, Nov 14, 2011
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  2. BBert

    BBert Weasels Ripped My Flesh

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    Yassuh Massuh Kessluh! Whatever you say, you da boss! Don't mind me, I'z jus' a dumb plantation workuh. I'll jus' keep pickin' my cotton and keep my mouth shut.

    Too strong? :)
     
    BBert, Nov 14, 2011
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  3. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Too dumb. There's a reason the NBA is trying to talk directly to the players - it's easy to break them individually. There really is a reason that Unions exist. And a reason why employers hate them - it makes it so much harder to exploit workers.
     
    Rastapopoulos, Nov 14, 2011
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  4. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Of course it'd be the role-players who'd be easiest to break, and ironically they're the ones who've benefited the most from the union.
     
    Rastapopoulos, Nov 14, 2011
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  5. Ed O

    Ed O Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    Fascinating.

    The union knows what's best for its membership. That is not, on its face, a terrible assertion. Unions should add a layer of organization and expertise for their members (like agents do for individual players), and acting like a sieve generally won't do membership much good.

    If the members don't like it, what is to be done? I'm no expert, but presumably it is to change union leadership, right? To throw out the bums that won't allow membership to have its say. A problem with that is that union leadership seems to generally be professional union leadership. Kessler played a similar role for the NFLPA, after all, and Hunter has been head of the NBAPA for about 15 years.

    So if the players lack the expertise and focus to oust leadership, what can they do? Vote to end the union, of course. Decertify.

    The union leadership seems like they could have done well to let membership vote except insofar as it might have shattered the illusion of solidarity and undermined the agents' attempts to move forward with decertification. It might also have been an emotional reaction on the part of leadership to the NBA going straight to players--it seems like that might be considered a bit of an "end run" around the proper process that ticked them off.

    Ed O.
     
    Ed O, Nov 14, 2011
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  6. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Doesn't that tell you all you need to know?
     
    Rastapopoulos, Nov 14, 2011
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  7. Ed O

    Ed O Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    Considering how he's built up the NBA into a revenue-generating machine that paid players insanely well over the last decade or two... yeah. Maybe it does.

    Ed O.
     
    Ed O, Nov 14, 2011
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  8. BBert

    BBert Weasels Ripped My Flesh

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    I know this may be hard to believe, but I am actually strongly pro union. :) Still, all this talk about the owners treating the players like plantation workers is just too much.
     
    BBert, Nov 14, 2011
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  9. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    I guess the players had nothing to do with that, huh. I know I only watch the NBA because of David Stern.
     
    Rastapopoulos, Nov 14, 2011
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  10. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    I agree. Anything that reminds people of how absurdly overpaid NBA players are comparative to other jobs is never a good idea. We should be focusing instead on how many orders of magnitude the owners are wealthy than the players, and how they are much more replaceable than any half-decent player.
     
    Rastapopoulos, Nov 14, 2011
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  11. Ed O

    Ed O Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    I watched the NBA before any of the current players were there, and I anticipated watching after any of the current players are still around. I don't really care about who the players are. More will emerge if the NBA is around and going strong.

    Ed O.
     
    Ed O, Nov 14, 2011
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  12. Spud147

    Spud147 Mercy Mercy

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    Wait, did that guy just call the players too stupid to know what they need?
     
    Spud147, Nov 14, 2011
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  13. Spud147

    Spud147 Mercy Mercy

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    1 percenters all of them... let's go Occupy the Rose Garden!
     
    Spud147, Nov 14, 2011
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  14. HailBlazers

    HailBlazers RipCity

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    Pretty Much, and he's in charge from here on out, at everyone's expense.
     
    HailBlazers, Nov 14, 2011
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  15. Ed O

    Ed O Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    That part is not in quotes, which indicates it's Hollinger's opinion, not Kessler's. Or at least not his quote :)

    Ed O.
     
    Ed O, Nov 14, 2011
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  16. PapaG

    PapaG Banned User BANNED

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    My take as well. I'm not a fan of any player more than I'm a fan of the Blazers. As I've posted earlier, many of us have attachments to our personal favorite Blazers, and perhaps a negative attitude toward others (yes, I just slammed myself re: Dre Miller), but the bottom line is that I don't really care to follow players once they leave the Blazers. The name on the front of the jersey has always meant more than the name on the back, to me at least.

    I also want to add that although he gets crap, that I completely understand a poster like huevonkiller (or something like that), who freely admits that he is more a fan of certain players than the teams they play for, and why he can switch allegiances. I imagine that there are a lot fewer fans in the latter camp, though, than in the former.
     
    PapaG, Nov 14, 2011
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  17. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    Some player reps didn't even show up. If they didn't care enough to do that, what's to say that they actually polled their teammates and discussed the deal??

    How the hell can Hunter use the word "unanimous?"

    BTW, according to multiple people on twitter, Aldridge did not show up.
     
    illmatic99, Nov 14, 2011
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  18. HailBlazers

    HailBlazers RipCity

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    Pretty Sad, even the players that did show up were wearing Jeans, un-tucked shirts, and Backpacks. How can you be taken seriously?
     
    HailBlazers, Nov 14, 2011
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  19. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    Very disappointing if true. He always seemed like he had his shit together better than most players.
     
    SlyPokerDog, Nov 14, 2011
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  20. PapaG

    PapaG Banned User BANNED

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    LMA, by not showing up, did show up. Clearly some player reps had more clout than others, and they got their way by not allowing the players to vote on the last-chance proposal.
     
    PapaG, Nov 14, 2011
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