Did you know that both the National Border Patrol Council and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA, the labor union representing NFL players) are part of the same organization? That organization is the AFL-CIO, and your union brothers, the members of the NFLPA, need your help. As you may have read in the press, NFL team owners have been strategizing for a lockout of the players when the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expires this March. The owners opted out of the current CBA early, and even after numerous bargaining sessions, they only tell the players that the current deal “isn’t working for them.” They have asked for approximately $1 billion back from the players, but not one team claims that it has lost money, even in the worst economic recession since the Great Depression.
Regarding healthcare in this undeniably dangerous profession, the owners provide just five years of post-career healthcare — and only for players who “vest” after three full seasons.
Needless to say, the members of the NFLPA are frustrated with the owners’ failure to bargain with them as business partners, but more importantly, the players are extremely concerned with the potential impact of a lockout on hundreds of thousands of working people who depend upon the business generated by the industry. Most of the 32 NFL team owners enjoy public financing and other municipal benefits for their teams and have promised local communities that such tax dollar investments will benefit the local economy. Now those same owners appear poised to inflict a lockout on communities nationwide. Conservative estimates indicate that a lockout will result in $160 million in lost economic activity in every city that is home to a team. Indeed, a lockout will leave at least 115,000 stadium workers out of work; in addition to stadium workers, hotels, restaurants, bars, parking facilities and retail establishments will also be severely impacted.
The NFLPA believes that your voice can help this situation and encourages you to visit www.NFLLockout.com and sign the petition to block the lockout.
For more information, please visit NFLLockout.com and NFLPlayers.com.