Player Reps Ratify Agreement Nba Lockout, Which Began July 1, Is Expected To End On Monday

The National Basketball Association lockout is almost history.

By a margin of 25-2, the league’s player representatives voted Wednesday to ratify a new six-year labor agreement. The lockout, which started July 1, is expected to end Monday, after the league’s owners vote on the new contract. David Stern, the commissioner, has guaranteed that the owners will ratify, and they need only a simple majority to do so during a conference call Friday afternoon.

Training camps are scheduled to open Oct. 6, while the regular season is set to begin Nov. 3. Those dates could still be threatened if a group of players in favor of decertifying the union challenges Tuesday’s 226-134 vote by players to retain their union.

But now that Stern has back-to-back victories on decertification and the contract, the NBA plans a complete return to operations by Monday. That means contracts could be signed and trades made after a long layoff marked by turmoil and uncertainty, which threatened the start of the season.

“We’re extremely pleased that the player reps have voted overwhelmingly to approve the new collective bargaining agreement,” said Russ Granik, the league’s deputy commissioner in a statement following Wednesday’s vote. “We will promptly submit the deal to the owners for ratification and we hope to have their approval by Friday afternoon.”

After Tuesday’s vote, most player representatives felt they had no choice but to ratify the deal that was struck by the league and the union last Aug. 8, and they did so quickly.

“These are usually two-meal meetings,” said Steve Kerr of the Chicago Bulls. “This was a snack meeting.”

None of the players in favor of decertification of the union, a group led by Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing, attended Wednesday’s 45-minute meeting at the O’Hare Airport Hilton. Jeffrey Kessler, the lawyer who filed the decertification petition for 17 players on June 21, said the group was undecided on whether it would challenge the results of the decertification vote. The group has until Tuesday to file an objection.

“I do not have anything new to say at this time, and I may not until Tuesday,” said Kessler, when contacted Wednesday at his New York City office. “Today’s vote was hardly a surprise. But we still feel that players were intimidated because of threats that the season was going to end. We’re still contacting players, gathering information and deciding what to do.”

Asked why none of the players in favor of decertification attended Wednesday’s meeting, Kessler said: “For what reason? The players already knew our position. To engage in a debate that would not have changed the outcome of the vote would not have served any purpose.”

One player who did attend Wednesday’s meeting was Mitch Richmond of the Sacramento Kings, who filed an unfair labor practice charge against the league, charging Stern with coercive tactics. Richmond addressed the player representatives before the vote was taken, but the only votes against ratifying the deal came from Sacramento and the Boston Celtics. Nevertheless, David Odom, Richmond’s attorney, said that his client would continue to pursue his charge.

“Mitch wants the players to have an opportunity to vote on ratification, without having to make a decision on decertification,” said Odom. “The two issues have been tied in an attempt to push the deal through. A lot of players who voted against decertification did not like the deal, but they were afraid that the season would not start.

“We’re going to provide more evidence to support Mitch’s charge, and we totally anticipate that the NLRB will set aside the results of the election.”

But Daniel Silverman, director of the New York office of the National Labor Relations Board, indicated that it was unlikely that Tuesday’s decertification vote would be set aside based on Richmond’s charge.

“The board has never ordered a new election as a remedy for an unfair labor practice charge,” said Silverman. “If one of the 17 petitioners files an objection, we could consolidate it with the Richmond charge if we found that it has merit. Absent a complaint from one of the parties, we will certify the election Sept. 20.”

So Wednesday, the league took another step toward starting the season on time, something that fans and players both want to happen. Meanwhile, representatives of the union hoped to mend any ill feelings among its ranks.