Referee Labor Dispute
In 2012, the league and the NFL Referees Association became involved in a dispute over the collective bargaining agreement between the two parties. Eventually, the league then locked out the officials in June, and turned to replacement officials to officiate the games. A month later, the association filed a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board against the league for unfair labor practices. The replacement referees were met with criticism from fans, players and coaches. Incidents included the week one Seattle Seahawks-Arizona Cardinals game, where the Seahawks were given an extra timeout, week two where side judge Brian Stropolo was removed from the New Orleans Saints-Carolina Panthers game for being a Saints fan, and the controversial ending to the Green Bay Packers-Seahawks game in week three. In September, ESPN analyst Chris Mortensen announced that the two groups are coming closer to an agreement.
Read more about this topic: National Football League Controversies
Famous quotes containing the words labor dispute, labor and/or dispute:
“Take away from the courts, if it could be taken away, the power to issue injunctions in labor disputes, and it would create a privileged class among the laborers and save the lawless among their number from a most needful remedy available to all men for the protection of their business interests against unlawful invasion.... The secondary boycott is an instrument of tyranny, and ought not to be made legitimate.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The manufacturing corporation, except in comparatively few instances, no longer represents a protecting care, a parental influence, over its operatives. It is too often a soulless organization; and its members forget that they are morally responsible for the souls and bodies, as well as for the wages, of those whose labor is the source of their wealth.”
—Harriet H. Robinson (1825–1911)
“As for the dispute about solitude and society, any comparison is impertinent. It is an idling down on the plane at the base of a mountain, instead of climbing steadily to its top.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)