In the latest public disclosure of one side’s offer in the ongoing (seemingly never-ending) CBA negotiations (or lack thereof), the CFLPA has ponied up. The PA is claiming that the league took a couple of hours to review their offer and refused to meet, saying there was nothing to discuss. The details of their offer to the league are below.
Update: CFL commissioner Mark Cohon has issued a statement on the PA’s offer. It’s pasted below, after the PA’s email.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
CBA Update
(STONEY CREEK, ON) In an attempt to resolve the differences between the C.F.L.P.A. and the P.R.C. and C.F.L., on June 2nd , 2014 we contacted the Mediator and advised him that the C.F.L.P.A. Negotiating Committee would be prepared to recommend an agreement on terms more favourable than our last position. The terms that we communicated were as follows:
Term
4 years;
Minimum Club Player’s Salary
2014 $4.8M;
2015 $5.0M;
2016 $5.2M;
2017 $5.4M.
Salary Cap
2014 $5.2M;
2015 $5.6M;
2016 $5.8M;
2017 $6.0M.
Minimum Compensation for Players
2014 $50,000;
2015 $51,000;
2016 $52,000;
2017 $53,000.
Revenue Protection Clause
Increase the gross revenue that triggers re-negotiation of the salary cap from $12 million to $18 million.
Compensation for Veterans for Increase in Salary Expenditure Cap
Veterans would be paid an average of $8,500.00 per Veteran Player, which would be redistributed based upon number of years of veteran status. Rookies would be paid the already proposed $1,500.00.In addition to the above, we communicated that there were other important issues that had to be resolved. Those key issues identified were the Option clause, practice times and contact during practices, pension plan (we revised our proposal to $4,000.00 per Player and $4,000.00 per Club), salary protection and medical treatment when players are injured late in the season, and maintaining the provision in the Collective
Agreement that requires all Contract Advisors/Agents to be registered with the C.F.L.P.A. We also indicated that we would be prepared to recommend that we agree that the marketing fee in the sum of $450,000.00 remain the same.
We communicated this to the Mediator and requested that he contact Legal Counsel for the P.R.C. to determine if there was a willingness to sit down and try to resolve the terms of the Collective Agreement inclusive of these terms.
On June 2nd, 2014, a few hours later, the Mediator contacted our Legal counsel and advised that the Player Relations Committee had convened to discuss this proposal and they are not prepared to move in any respect from their last offer. They maintain that is their best offer and it will not improve. They indicated that they see no point in meeting unless we are prepared to accept their offer.
We want to let it be known that the C.F.L.P.A. has moved over $1M off of our original proposed salary cap in order to facilitate negotiations and to work towards a resolution. We have also agreed with many of the P.R.C.’s proposed changes to the Collective Agreement. Once again the P.R.C. has flat out rejected any
proposal we have put forth and are in no way interested in negotiating. Their mandate appears to be that of not creating a partnership with the players, but dictating the terms of what they deem to be an acceptable agreement.
The Executive and Player Representatives of the C.F.L.P.A. are united and are in no way prepared to recommend the last proposal of the P.R.C. to our members.
For more information on the CFLPA, please visit http://www.cflpa.com.
The CFL and Mark Cohon’s response
The Canadian Football League has informed the CFLPA negotiation committee through the mediator that they are prepared to extend the deadline for the ratification bonus until Friday, June 6 if the CFLPA wanted to have its members vote on the CFL’s latest proposal, which was put forward on Wednesday, May 28.
“We have made our best offer and continue to believe the CFLPA should allow its members to vote on our offer,” said CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon. “The most recent CFLPA proposal, which was presented to us yesterday through the mediator, would not form the basis of a settlement as it was unrealistic.
“Our offer increases the average player salary by 16% in 2014, to more than $96,000 per player, and significantly reduces the number of padded practices throughout the season. Our proposal also includes ratification bonuses of $5,000 for veteran players and $1,500 for rookies. We are confident that our offer is fair to the players and would allow us to continue to build our league while not jeopardizing the positive momentum we have collectively achieved over the last several years.”
