Tag: NFLPA
Much of America recently witnessed the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd by a police officer sworn to serve and protect. As such we are reminded of the words of Colin Kaepernick and why he refused to stand for the national anthem four years ago.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. … To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Despite the NFL how the rewarded Kaepernick for his social justice stance with banishment from the league, Roger Goodell issued a statement on George Floyd’s murder because…
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/feature-stories/nfl/unpacking-roger-goodells-statement-on-the-death-of-george-floyd/
Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/05/12/russell-okung-continues-to-fight-the-good-fight/
On Monday, Panthers left tackle Russell Okung issued a statement signaling his intent to appeal the dismissal of his NLRB claim.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/feature-stories/nfl/russell-okung-continues-to-fight-the-good-fight/
Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/04/22/fans-needed/
There’s a saying, “When people show you who they are, believe them.” As people began to grapple with the realities of a pandemic and a world largely without sports, elite NBA/New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson announced that he’d cover the salaries of largely minimum wage venue workers while Gayle Benson, the owner of the Pelicans as well as the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, who is worth multiple billions compared to Zion’s single-digit millions remained silent. In contrast, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban almost immediately pledged to take care of the team’s hourly workers and began an initiative to provide daycare for the children of healthcare workers. He has also shown leadership in urging that people are not rushed back to work too quickly.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/feature-stories/nfl/when-people-show-who-they-are-believe-them-the-covid-19-effect/
(Originally published by New York Times on March 9) With just days to go before N.F.L. players vote on a 10-year labor agreement, one of the most influential members of its union’s executive committee has accused the staff of the N.F.L. Players Association of negotiating the proposed deal in bad faith.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/03/27/nfl-player-accuses-union-leaders-of-bad-faith-cbanegotiation/
Russell Okung, an offensive lineman who was recently traded to Carolina, said that the proposed collective bargaining agreement should not have been sent to the full membership to vote because the deal was rejected twice by a majority of the executive committee.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/feature-stories/nfl/nfl-player-accuses-union-leaders-of-bad-faith-c-b-a-negotiation/
Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/03/11/not-so-free-agency/
“Hating labor and labor unions is America’s unofficial pastime. When a star athlete signs a multimillion-dollar contract, the talk radio lines explode with fans deconstructing the value of the deal, protecting the billionaire team owner’s money as if it were their own. Striking teachers immediately face the cries that they shouldn’t complain about their wages because they get the summers off. When football players, after years of providing entertainment for couch potatoes nationwide, sue their league for not disclosing the devastating health risks accompanied with the fame of stardom, those same fans, who bought the jerseys and asked for the autographs, turn coldly against their former heroes and say things like “Nobody put a gun to their head.” Americans expect workers to take what they get. If you don’t like it, leave. Or as they say in the NFL, next man up.” These are the opening lines of Howard Bryant’s essay entitled “What Colin Kaepernick Taught Us”, part of a collection of essays recently published in his latest literary masterpiece, his book Full Dissidence: Notes From An Uneven Playing Field. Labor talks and fights in regular life are not popular, especially when unions are involved, but the sentiment is exacerbated when it comes to people who play a game for a living, whose contracts and salaries (usually with numbers starting on six-figure step of the financial ladder) are being widely reported on and dissected in all forms of media by experts and fans alike: pro athletes.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/opinion/not-so-free-agency/
This letter if from our mailbag from the wife of a disabled player. I feel it explains the devastating impact of the disability changes in the proposed CBA far better than anything I could write. ~ Sheilla
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/feature-stories/nfl/from-the-wife-of-a-disabled-nfl-player/
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