NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

The NFL Players Association filed a grievance with the league on Tuesday challenging its national anthem policy.

The union says that the new policy, which the league imposed without consultation with the NFLPA, is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement and infringes on players’ rights.

In May, the NFL approved its national anthem policy at its owners’ meetings in Atlanta. The policy allows players to protest during the national anthem by staying in the locker room, but forbids them from sitting or taking a knee if they’re on the field or the sidelines.

Teams will be subject to fines if players don’t comply and will have the option of punishing players.


When the league announced the policy, commissioner Roger Goodell called it a compromise aimed at putting the focus back on football after a tumultuous year in which television ratings dipped nearly 10 percent; some blamed the protests for such a drop. The union said at that time that it would file a grievance against any change in the collective bargaining agreement.



Read more on The Boston Globe

:lightsabres:

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

It was not inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement. Know how I know that? Because there was a rule already in place against anyone on the field who failed to stand for the flag and Anthem. The league simply failed to enforce it.

All they have done with this new "policy" is lay out the same rules with an exception that you can stay in the locker room without penalty. It's a cop out, and does nothing to solve the problem, in the first place, and yet the players STILL don't like it? Who cares. Move to Mexico or Cuba, or whatever place you believe is so much better than here.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Some attorney is making money.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

You are close, but off in one vital aspect. There is no actual rule covering this subject. But, it was addressed in the NFL operations manual (which is NOT a part of the official NFL rules documentation).

As you see, there was nothing in the rules that specifies that players will stand for the anthem and that violators will be disciplined.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

shut up and go to work. Protest on your own dime and time.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

OMG!!! This **** is still going on!?! Here we go one more time dammit! Freedom of speech is good but respect for those who gave their lives is also a good thing! It's a freakin' thugs message that no one understands! :bang:

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Either stand or don't come on the field. If you want to make a political statement do it on your own time.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

I predicted this message would come, and you were the one who was most likely to send it.

You can call it a rule, or you can call it a guideline. I call it a rule, because there is no reason to say "should", if you do not intend for the players to stand, or else face some kind of penalty. The word "should" simply means that the league can CHOOSE not to do anything about it, which is exactly what happened the last couple of years. The "should" was a nudge by the league to make the players not embarrass said league as they have, but when it came down to facing the embarrassment the league was, and is, weak.

It matters not to me whether something is in the game operations manual or in the rule book. Because there is nothing in the rule book that says that players acquitted of crimes by the court can still be suspended by the league. The league makes up rules on the fly, and this is just the problem. They enforce whatever is convenient for them, even if they have to invent something. They also have rules that say a certain type of offense carries a SPECIFIC number of games you are to be suspended, only to be doubled when the league decides they want to make an example out of someone.

Now they have changed their policy, leaving the door still wide open for players to get off scot-free for doing something that the league doesn't want to have to deal with. Everything is politically motivated with them. It's why they hand out inconsistent punishments depending on whatever they believe will make them look "socially responsible", and it's why they refuse to take a hard stance on player conduct regarding the Anthem.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Rings of truth.
I cant believe how stupid these people are.
They're all like Joe Psarcik. They were winning, and banking, and all they
had to do is not do anything stupid. I'm becoming less and less empathetic
with players, to the point, I dont know how much I give a damn about them,
or the NFL anymore.

This is kind of a statement, because I was kind of a bigger than average fan.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Simple solution, stop beating and killing black Americans, then letting the offender not be prosecuted.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Insert huge exaggerated eye roll here.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

What’s more American than a union filing a grievance on behalf of its members? I thought that was the right way to do it. Maybe they should throw some tea in the ocean and actually go to war with those who oppose them. That message is well understood.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

And, once again, your kind of ignorance and hyperbole is what's wrong with this whole situation.

There is no evidence of disproportionate prejudice towards blacks. The overwhelming problem within the "black community" is black on black crime. It's the people who get on television and spread lies with their cherry picking videos that cause divide. And the officers who shoot black men who are threatening them and who have KNOWN criminal records, that the media and black lives matter twist into being somehow the officers fault, that cause tension in this country.

It's because people like YOU who don't bother to look for evidence, but rather assume that everything is racism, and it's all about you, that make the word "racism" even a thing anymore. The word is meaningless now. It's just a thing people say when they don't like their lives and they want someone else to blame.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

There is nothing strictly American about a union, in general. Unions tend to hold people hostage for no other reason than the fact that they CAN, and it's how they get what they want. There is little integrity in any union. If you have a grievance, then show just cause. If you can't do that, then I don't owe you respect just because you believe it's your right to complain about any and everything.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Companies do the same. They have a grievance, and they’re attempting to show just cause for it. That’s the whole point of filing it. They DO have a right to do this just like you have a right to not like it. I find all the complaints about it to be disingenuous. People run around this country with Confederate flags...an entity that was directly opposed to the United States of America...so much so that they went to war over it. But that’s cool though...that’s no disrespect to America/Americans. This though? Call the National Guard!! The inmates are on the loose!

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

There is ample evidence of disproportionate, aggressive, and unfair policing of Blacks. There are scholarly journals and research studies on the topic. If you go to Google and type in Google Scholar it’ll take you to a Google-driven search engine specifically used for research purposes. Peer review articles and journals galore. Empirical data and evidence in abundance. I use it to write my papers on racial healthcare disparities.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

So what are you saying? The NFL is over paid thugs? :rolleyes:

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

There is a mountain of evidence to suggest (indicate) that black people are over-represented in the criminal justice system.

Full stop. Rezburna is 110% on target.

I don't line up with the "Company/Union" comparison and I disagree with the statement that the Confederate Flag directly opposed the United States of America. The water under these bridges is deep and swift, and so these kinds of blanket statements do a disservice to the debate. That's just what I think. Opinions vary.

Sawmmi's "Simple Solution" is rhetoric. I happen to agree that these kinds of statements and the mentality of those who make them are a significant road block to a peaceful end because it insinuates a view wherein it is okay to beat and kill a black american with the protection of law enforcement. There are no more slave patrols. Full stop.

Black people, on average, do not get the same level of presumed innocence that Whites or even Hispanics receive. No doubt racism plays a role, but so too does the mindset and actions of the suspects/victims. Where these factors merge, in my opinion anyway, is where the real debate needs to happen. Both sides have to recognize some responsibility, and I am not convinced either side is willing.

Back to topic - the NFL is stupid and could very easily correct the problem but flatly refuses because it is trying to protect its bottom line. Welcome to America...

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

This should be the bargain. We pay you, you play, the fans watch us, we get paid, rinse and repeat. I say let them all strike again and see how much that helps them now. When teams can't afford to pay 20 million to some overrated running back then I guess they would be fine with a 15 million a year pay cut.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

We really didn't go there did we? We need stats. Just to say what you feel doesn't make it true no matter how passionately you feel about it. All of the cases where a police officer beating or killing a cop are shown on the news. How many do you see on the news and of those I would say at least 50% are justified. Now how many blacks kill blacks and why don't we talk about that too. It's easy to make the police departments the fall guys but in reality it's not reality.

Foot note: I have children that are black and I understand the difference between white and black. I don't know the feeling but I understand it.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

They are paid athletes playing on the company dime. Conform during work hours......discussing politics is just a bad idea at work and almost always leads to problems. Especially when your audience is so diversified.

I guess it's time for the different religions to take a stand(or kneel) and get the attention on the player for the moment.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

They are paid athletes playing on the company dime. Conform during work hours......discussing politics is just a bad idea at work and almost always leads to problems. Especially when your audience is so diversified.

I guess it's time for the different religions to take a stand(or kneel) and get the attention on the player for the moment.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Companies do the same? Do they lock their employees out to get them to accept less? No, but unions stop all operations because they want MORE. I'm fine with filing a grievance if you have A REASON. A legitimate reason. Unions are all about "give me more, because I want more". There are higher paying jobs if you want more. Your company is going to make you an offer, and you accept that offer when start working for them. We can all complain that we "deserve" more, but the company, or business, is under no obligation to raise your pay. A lot of people are affected when employees strike, including a lot of people who don't want to go on strike but are forced by their union.

Your Confederate flag statement is completely false. The Confederate flag represented the Confederate states. Very few people owned slaves. 10% or less, in fact. If you knew your history, you'd know that the war was not started over slavery. That was a political ploy that Abraham Lincoln used later, when the British were ready to come to the aide of the Confederates. Lincoln used this smear tactic to dissuade the British from "getting their hands dirty", so to speak. Lincoln, himself, was on record as supporting the right to own slaves during his time as a Senator. Did you know that? Still think it was a war on slavery?

The fact is that the Confederate states wanted to secede from the Union, and Lincoln wanted to block their constitutional right to do so. He did not want to lose power over these states. THAT is what started the war, and THAT is what was worth fighting for. Not owning slaves. That was something that only a minority of people were the least bit concerned in protecting.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

I would expect no less than for you to get your "evidence" from google searches. Google, who has been shown to sensor any kind of Conservative coverage, to persuade the public toward their liberal views, is apparently the gospel now.

If we're talking about anytime up until about 1970, I'd agree with you. what we have now is a fact that blacks ( I'm not indicting every single black person here) commit the majority of crime in this country despite being 13% of the overall population. Yet, instead of being outraged with such behavior, you automatically assume that this must mean that blacks are being targeted. Almost all of the high profile cases that make national news involve a black guy getting shot because he was resisting arrest or threatening a cop in some way, and the media coverage inexplicably rushes to the defense of the criminal. There are people who still defend OJ. Where was the disproportionate treatment of him?

I've long said that there ARE, of course, cases of prejudice. But it is nowhere NEAR to the extent that you would have us believe. If you want to talk about real empirical evidence, it is a fact that black people are being accepted into many colleges and universities based on the fact that they are a minority, and not because they are more qualified. This is not to say that no black people are qualified, before you try to take it that way. But a lot of qualified applicants are turned down in favor of the "inclusion" method. There is a collective fear that a lot of people have over not wanting to be labeled a racist. People lose their jobs over the mere CLAIM of having said or done something racist. Employers are so unwilling to go down that rabbit hole that they often just make knee jerk decisions, and fire people without a thorough investigation. And if you think I'm making that up, then you are out of touch with modern reality, my friend.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Um, you were saying? From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_NFL_lockout

SFIAH

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

This was a direct dispute between the players Union and the owners. If the Players Union had simply accepted the terms that they had already PREVIOUSLY agreed upon, they would not have been kept from working.

THEY (the NFLPA) made the decision to dispute their agreement. THEY forced the hand of the owners.

See the difference? As a company or business, when your employees just decide that they aren't going to show up, it completely screws you over. No one forced the players union into REFUSING to accept the previous terms. And that is why unions are such a bad idea. They are NEVER satisfied. They always want more, and when the union decides it isn't happy, everyone suffers.

Try again.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Over represented how? Because there are more blacks in jail, are you presuming that this is evidence of prejudice? The crime rates don't back up that black representation in prison is disproportionate to the number of crimes they are committing. Where are these mountains of evidence?

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Allow me to elaborate further on this point. You might have also noticed that in my original comment that you replied to, I stated that you don't see companies locking out their employees to get them to take LESS.

Again there are already terms agreed upon. The union wants more. If every time a union came calling for more, the company just said "ok, here you go", they'd go bankrupt. So for you to try to use an example of a bunch of millionaires disputing with billionaires over the CBA is beyond silly, in my opinion. No one came up to the players and said "hey, I'm locking you out, because I don't like how much money you're making". The players had a choice to either keep working or dispute their employers. They chose to dispute, as is their right, I suppose. But they must also accept the right of the employer to tell them no.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Sure. From the same:

Look everyone is greedy. Everyone looks out for their own self interests. That doesn't make unions good or bad or companies good or bad. Each understands that if they don't stand up for their own self interests, that no one else is going to do it for them. I'm just trying to point out that it isn't one sided.

SFIAH

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

I agree that there is greed on both sides. This is the NFL, not some run of the mill business. But the fact of the matter is that players weren't being threatened to have money taken out of their contracts; this was a matter of league revenue. Now, we can have a separate discussion about who deserves what percentage of that revenue, and the moral implications of what the owners wanted, but it is THEIR league. Do the owners need all of that extra money? No, they really don't. But they are businessmen, and it is their business. The players make an incredible amount of money. Even those who aren't millionaires are still making hundreds of thousands of dollars for playing a game. They can't say they are unjustly treated. It's just greed.

And yes, the owners are greedy as well, but the difference, again, is that it is their business. I don't like the idea of unions trying to strong arm a business into doing what isn't in it's best interest. There are courts who can deal with instances of employer abuse. Be it physical or verbal abuse, or grossly underpaying one or more employees as compared to others who are performing at a similar or even lesser efficiency and making significantly more money. I'm all for taking your boss to task on those things though, at best, you might get a money settlement and then be out of a job, because what boss wants to keep someone who sues them?. Unions are overkill, and cause far too many problems, in my opinion. It's usually easier to just find some other job, unless it's physical abuse you want to report. That's worth taking to court.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

YOU KNOW THE WORST THING IS YOUR IGNORANCE! You talk about black on black crimes as justification for the brutality. How would you feel if Whites were targeted for behavior of the use of automatic rifles or shooting up schools. Just cause a person is black, don't justify killing and hiding behind the law fear for your life when the person is unarmed. Videos don't cause the divide, the blind eye does and your ignorance for justifying killing of human being. If a person is panhandling do he deserve to die? If a person have a warrant for not paying their child support they deserve to die? CAUSE A MAN IS BLACK DO HE DESRVE TO DIE? GO sit your ignorant arse down and read a book.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

MOST of the killing of officers are by white people so why are blacks the most feared and killed? For blacks killing blacks (read statement up above)

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

I support the Police.
They dont give a damn what color you are; half of them ARE Black.
The Mayors of most Major U.S. cities are also.
I support the Flag and America.
If you dont, why dont you move?

Im the Customer.
This is Bullsh**.
If they want my money, they need to stop.
Go do it, when you're off duty. But its not making you any friends,
it's dividing us, and messing up a good thing. The only color I want
to care bout is our Jersey.

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Re: NFL Players Association files grievance challenging national anthem policy
 

Originally Posted by CheramieIII
We really didn't go there did we? We need stats. Just to say what you feel doesn't make it true no matter how passionately you feel about it. All of the cases where a police officer beating or killing a cop are shown on the news. How many do you see on the news and of those I would say at least 50% are justified. Now how many blacks kill blacks and why don't we talk about that too. It's easy to make the police departments the fall guys but in reality it's not reality.

Foot note: I have children that are black and I understand the difference between white and black. I don't know the feeling but I understand it.
MOST of the killing of officers are by white people so why are blacks the most feared and killed? For blacks killing blacks (read statement up above)

Typo on my original post: instead of killing a cop it should've read killing a black man.