Unanimously, the Redskins players have voted to authorize the NFL Players Assocation to decertify as a union in the event that a new labor deal isn’t struck. The move coincides with recent similar votes from the Giants, Eagles and Cowboys to make the NFC East the first full division to approve this motion.
The move is intended to give the players leverage in negotiating a new CBA with a legal recourse. As long as the owners are negotiating the deal with a certified union, they are protected by the anti-trust exemption and retain the option of locking out the players without fear of litigation. By decertifying the union, the players will then retain the ability to sue the owners in event of a lockout.
It’s an eleventh-hour move, obviously, and teams all across the NFL are conducting these votes and based on the unanimous polls so far, there seems to be very little resistance to this idea.
The owners may still lock out the players in 2011—but it won’t happen without a legal confrontation.
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