Perhaps President Obama saw my tweet early this morning?
From Ken Berger of CBSSports.com:
The NBA labor talks are headed for government intervention after the canceling of games drew the attention of the nation’s top federal mediator. George Cohen, director of the federal mediation and conciliation service, will be in New York City on Monday to interview separately executives from the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association, two people with knowledge of the meeting told CBSSports.com Wednesday. The two parties will then meet in Cohen’s office Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Billy Hunter, the NBPA’s executive director, divulged in a radio interview with WFAN in New York earlier Wednesday that the two sides had agreed to have their failed negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement federally mediated. Cohen, appointed by President Obama, was called upon to mediate the NFL’s labor negotiation with the NFL Players Association before that sport’s recent lockout was imposed. He has no binding authority and can only make suggestions. If nothing else, a fresh set of eyes and opinions — not to mention meetings with a different venue and format — couldn’t hurt.
does this fed have *any* leverage? the players have a tiny bit of leverage and stern hasn’t even begun to bargain with them.
it’s not comforting to know that he worked with the nfl *before* they went into their own lockout.
…not that i’m getting cynical about this or anything
I wonder he can testify about what he hears in the player’s complaint to the labor board.
These two parties needed a third party a long time ago. The NBA hadn’t bargained in good faith for two years leading into lockout. Once players filed complaint, mediation should have been offered..once league filed it’s suit, it should have been offered..before people fall back to engrained political view points remember the NFL came out on top when they finally got a deal and mediation was involved. In the nfl’s case, I thought both sides respected mediator and toned down rhetoric. Both sides need to move..hopefully a third party helps..at least it means sides coming together earlier than a month or so that was predicted.
Obama likes the NBA and loves tampering with private enterprise. Don’t assume he won’t sick the NLRB on Stern. See what they did to Boeing in South Carolina.
Obama’s powerless to do much else right now, playing NBA commissioner would be a welcome change of pace for him.
well the mediater doesnt have any authority, so this is just a waste of time… I say the owners should just take what was on the table or go back to the way things were last yr.
if this mediator fixes this lockout within the next week then the players/owners are gonna look ridiculously pathetic
i hate to say it, but the players/owners are unlikely to look ridiculously pathetic by way of *that* particular scenario.
:/
Not going to work
Hope it does tho