Drama and chaos continues after the Canadian Football League (CFL) and its Players’ Association fell short of securing a new collective bargaining agreement.
The union has reportedly now ordered players from seven of the league’s nine outfits to participate in a work-stoppage.
Players with the Edmonton Elks and the Stampeders, meanwhile, returned to their camps on Sunday. This is because they won’t be in a legal strike position until much later this month.
According to Stampeders linebacker Jameer Thurman, it feels wrong to be returning to camp while the rest of the league is on strike. He said while the Stampeders had voted to join the s犀利士
trike, Alberta’s labour laws have made it difficult to achieve. Thurman said the number one priority right now is to resolve the negotiation issues and return to playing football.
First Fail Since 1974
The Montreal Alouettes on Sunday evening announced that all training camps would be suspended until such time as the many issues facing the league right now have been resolved.
The CFL’s current labour agreement, which was reached in 2019, and amended last year, expired at midnight on Saturday. This current strike is the first since 1974, when that particular term’s labour negotiations were resolved before the start of the season.
It isn’t yet clear when the current negotiations will be resumed.
Possible Full-Blown Strike
According to Calgary player representative Derek Wiggan, the hope is that the negotiations will have been settled before such time as the Stampedes are once again in a legal position to re-join the action.
He said the hope is that the matter will be resolved on Wednesday. He said the Stampedes have full faith in the Players’ Association and in the hope that the issues will be cleared in time for Calgary’s first pre-season game against the B.C. Lions on May 28.
Dickenson said the Stampedes have been looking forward to a phenomenal 2022 season. He said the players are excited to get back to playing competitively, and that he enjoyed what he saw when the group returned to the turf on Sunday.
CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie on Saturday revealed the league’s final offer to the Players’ Association. However, in an official memo to members on the weekend, the Players’ Association declared that it had rejected the league’s proposal.
The union said on Sunday that ninety-nine per cent of its members had voted to strike in response to the proposal. Now they have plenty of time to play at rush games casino.
Should the parties not return to the negotiations table soon, there will be an outright strike to navigate.
According to the union’s memo, should a new deal not be reached soon, all its Alberta members will join the strike later this week.
Players Remaining Positive
But several players have been making the most of the unfortunate situation by continuing play and keeping fit in the hopes of a resolution.
Commenting on the situation on the weekend, Thurman said despite the “bad situation” it feels good to be back on the field and to be bringing the players back up to a high standard of play.