Soccer union asks members for priorities in contract talks

Officials of the new MLS Players Union have asked players to list their priorities for the league's first-ever collective-bargaining agreement and are preparing to begin negotiating in the next few weeks.

Major League Soccer, meanwhile, has elected a labor committee made up of members of its board of governors and has retained law firm Proskauer Rose, which has advised the NBA, MLB and NHL on labor issues. Proskauer partner Bob Batterman will advise MLS during negotiations, said MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis, who will oversee day-to-day negotiations.

Gazidis would not reveal the league's priorities for its first labor agreement.

"We are waiting, at the moment, for the MLSPU, who are working with the players to formulate their priorities, and when they are through with that process, we will be sitting down with them and starting the collective bargaining," Gazidis said.

Jon Newman, MLSPU general counsel, said, "We hope to set [bargaining] sessions through the coming month or so."

The union has also received some, but not all, of the information it needs from the league, such as player salaries, to begin bargaining, Newman said.

The new union and the league have already successfully resolved one player issue since the union was formed a few months ago, regarding the MLS All-Star Game.