The NFL Players Association has told the NFL that it believes any changes to the personal conduct policy require collective bargaining, but the league has rejected the union’s requests to bargain, George Atallah, NFLPA assistant executive director for external affairs, said last week.
The NFL and NFLPA have been engaged in discussions about changing the policy, in the wake of domestic violence scandals involving high-profile players, including Ray Rice. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in September that the policy, which gives him broad authority over player discipline, may be changed, and the league and the union have had three meetings about it.
“The discussions we have had in recent weeks with the NFL have included issues that we believe require collective bargaining,” Atallah said. “Those issues include material changes to Article 46,” he said, a reference to the portion of the collective-bargaining agreement titled “Commissioner Discipline.”
The NFL, meanwhile, does not believe that changes to the policy need to be collectively bargained, said Greg Aiello, NFL senior vice president, communications, in an email.
“These policies have been in place for almost two decades (since 1997) and have never been the subject of collective bargaining,” Aiello wrote. “The Commissioner’s authority in this area has been recognized for decades and the NFLPA has never contended that the policy is a subject of collective bargaining.”
Atallah said the NFLPA has expressly made the point that changes to the personal conduct policy must be collectively bargained “in multiple ways.” Atallah said the union has been discussing how to resolve the disagreement with the player leadership on the executive committee.
“That is a decision that they will have to make, but we will reserve all our rights,” Atallah said. “We are very disappointed that they have not committed to the bargaining process. The next steps remain to be played out.”
