Interesting legal issue: players from the Oilers and Flames are arguing the NHL lockout doesn’t comply with Alberta labour laws. Ten hour hearing today in front of the Alberta Labour Board, which reserved its decision.
Similar application to be heard next month by the Quebec Labour Board.
http://http://www.edmontonjournal.com/touch/business/story.html?id=7282404
Link did not work for me.
That one worked. Wish it had given more detail. I seem to remember this sort of issue coming up before in another sport…maybe baseball or basketball?
Does Alberta have jurisdiction, or is pro hockey “for the general Advantage of Canada or for the Advantage of Two or more of the Provinces,” as per Constitution s. 92(10)(c)?
still needs a federal declaration to bring it under that clause!
In '94 when the baseball owners tried to lock out the players and use replacements instead, Ontario said it couldn’t–couldn’t use replacements, anyway, if memory serves. To show how ridiculous the whole thing was, the Blue jays management said they’d move the team’s operations to Dunedin, Fla., where they had their spring training site (and maybe a minor league team too?)–and have the “team” play home games in a stadium that seated maybe 5,000.
That’s probably what you’re recalling.
I don’t really follow hockey very closely, but an 82-game season matching just the Oilers and the Flames would make for great TV. Or not. It would certainly wreak havoc with the record books. I’m for it!
This is total bullshit. We’ve now got a system where you can count on significant lost time every single time any CBA expires.
I don’t give a damn who the good and bad guys are. They should all be locked in a room jury-style and sequestered 24/7 until they hammer out a deal, and that itself should be written into the CBA.
I’m not sure if this is what you’re thinking of, but in football, Kevin and Pat Williams argued that Minnesota labor law should override the CBA with regards to drug testing. The argument was never resolved, since they dropped their legal case.
Yup…that’s what I was remembering.
Still no decision yet from the Alberta LRB.
Here’s a couple of articles:
NHL says it still has lockout authority in Alberta as labour board claim is withdrawn
The gist of the complaint seems to be that under Alberta labour law, before there can be a lock-out or a strike, the parties must go to mediation and they must give the mediator at least 14 days to try to resolve the issue. That didn’t happen.
What I didn’t know is that the NHL apparently made the initial filing with the Alberta Labour Relations Board, for a sort of a waiver of the time-line, and then withdrew the application when the NHLPA objected. Then the NHLPA brought their own application after the lock-out, arguing that it was not consistent with Alberta labour law, since the employer hadn’t given the mediator the 14 days working time.
Reading between the lines, the NHL’s comments about trying to file the appropriate paperwork to keep on-side with labour laws sound a bit dismissive - as if they see it as just formalities that they have to comply with, and then got surprised when the NHLPA objected.
The Board has announced that it will release its decision at 3 pm MDT this afternoon.