NEW YORK, (Reuters) – The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) rejected the owners’ latest proposal for a new labor agreement and will file an antitrust lawsuit against the league, union chief Billy Hunter said yesterday.
The NBPA said it would no longer continue in collective bargaining and would dissolve the union to become a trade association in order to pursue legal action against the NBA, a move that threatens the entire 2011-12 season.
“We have arrived at the conclusion that the collective bargaining process has completely broken down,” NBPA executive director Hunter said at a news conference in New York.
“As a result, within the last hour we served a notice of disclaimer on Commissioner (David) Stern and the NBA.”
Stern, who already canceled the first month of a regular season that was scheduled to begin two weeks ago, admitted the 2011-12 campaign is in jeopardy but that the NBA was prepared for the union’s latest move.
“In anticipation of this day, the NBA filed an unfair labor practice charge before the National Labor Relations Board asserting that, by virtue of its continued threats, the union was not bargaining in good faith,” Stern said in a statement.
“We also began a litigation in federal court in anticipation of this same bargaining tactic.”
The NBA, which claims it lost $300 million last season with 22 of its 30 teams in the red, locked out players on July 1.
The latest offer by the NBA called for a 50-50 split of basketball related income between the owners and players and would have provided for a 72-game season to start on Dec. 15.
Players, who received 57 percent of basketball income in the previous contract, also are at odds with the owners over rules governing contracts and free agency.
“We have negotiated in good faith for over two years and we’ve done everything anybody could reasonably expect of us particularly when you look at the number of give-backs and concessions,” said Hunter.
“But the players just felt that they have given enough, that the NBA was not willing or prepared to continue to negotiate. Things were not going to get better and they were going to continue to reach and grab.”
Stern had told the players that if they did not accept the latest owners’ proposal, that their next offer would be rolled back to 47 percent of the pie for the players.