This came across the UPI news this morning.  If people are interested, I will
send any more definite news later on.
 
 
 
>
>    CHICAGO (UPI) -- NHL owners, ``unified like never before,'' voted
> unanimously Sunday to hold steady on their so-called last contract offer
> to the players, setting the stage for the first strike in the league's
> 75-year history to begin Monday afternoon.
>    The NHL Board of Governors, many of whom had negotiated with the
> players' union until dawn in Toronto before flying to Chicago to meet
> privately, emerged from a six-hour meeting apparently prepared for a
> work stoppage.
>    Quebec Nordiques president Marcel Aubut labled the owners ``unified
> like never before.''
>    No further talks were scheduled before the Monday noon EST strike
> deadline set by the NHL Players' Association A conference call involving
> all team player representatives is planned for Monday morning at 8 a.m.
> EST. The committee will review the owners' last offer and determine a
> course of action.
>    NHLPA Executive Director Bob Goodenow maintain the players also stand
> united.
>    NHL President John Ziegler said the owners negotiating committee
> simply reported to the rest of the Board of Governors the status of the
> last five days of talks with the NHLPA before the owners voted to stand
> by their last proposal, apparently rejected by the players.
>    Marathon talks between the owners committee and union broke off at
> 5:30 a.m. EST Sunday without a new collective bargaining agreement,
> although the two sides appeared closer. The owners presented what they
> called their ``last offer,'' and the players countered with another
> offer. Those two different proposals apparently remain on the table,
> although Goodenow, in a statement issued Sunday night, expressed
> frustration at the stalemate and claimed the players' counter-proposal
> had been rejected.
>    ``Members of the NHLPA negotiating committee consulted extensively
> this past week with the team player reps and players,'' Goodenow said.
> ``The PA committee made a proposal early Sunday morning which we know
> addressed the League's economic concerns. I'm at a loss as to why this
> proposal was rejected.
>    ``It should be noted by everyone that the NHL Players Association has
> worked hard to get an agreement and avoid a strike,'' Goodenow
> continued. ``But the owners' rejection of our last proposal and their
> resubmission of an offer which we counter-proposed is evidence that the
> owners want to assert demands on the players which they are unwilling to
> accept.''
>    ``It's hard for some players on the negotiations committee to believe
> that some members of the owners committee really in fact want to reach
> an agreement,'' Goodenow added.
>    The owners committee scheduled no further meetings and declined to
> say if the players' counter-proposal has been rejected. The owners'
> rhetoric was confined to their own original offer to the players, as
> though they were simply ignoring the union's counter proposal.
>    ``There's nothing more for us (the owners negotiating committee) to
> meet about right now,'' Ziegler said. ``We've give the players our
> proposal. We're hopeful they're considering it. ... When we broke up
> (early Sunday morning), we had a proposal that was comprehensive. They
> had a proposal that was comprehensive. They were in some places close
> together, in some places they were in agreement, and in some places they
> were far apart.''
>    ``If the players want to strike, that's their choice,'' Ziegler said.
> ``There's a substantial offer, a substantial improvement.''
>    The NHLPA's strike deadline of noon EST Monday comes nine days before
> the scheduled start of the Stanley Cup playoffs. No games are scheduled
> for Monday, so the earliest any games would be affected would be Tuesday
> night. Sunday's games went on as planned.
>    The players have been without a collective bargaining areement since
> Sept. 15. The major issues have been the players' demands of a less
> restrictive free-agency system, fairer salary arbitration and more money
> for pensions and postseason awards.
>    A strike for the playoffs would come at a time when the owners make
> 13 percent of their revenue. Ziegler had asked the owners to look into
> the availability of their arenas if there is a need to push back the
> playoffs but he again refused comment on whether the owners discussed
> contigency plans such as fielding replacement players.
>    ``We talked about all the things that might happen in a strike,''
> Ziegler said. ``... I don't think it's appropriate to discuss what might
> happen in the event of a strike because it is my desire, my earnest hope
> that doesn't take place. If further discussions can help, I am ready,
> willing and able to travel any where, any place to see that our season
> is not interrupted.''
>    Ziegler again refused to give specifics of the issues under
> negotiation or the major sticking points.
>    A major obstacle had been the discrepancy over how much the league
> stands to make or lose this season. Ziegler has said the NHL will lose
> $9 million in 1991-92, while the NHLPA said the league stands to make
> $24 million.
>    The NHLPA set the strike deadline on March 20, and the daily
> negotiations between the sides began in Toronto on Tuesday. Meetings
> lasted 4 1/2 hours on Tuesday, 10 hours Wednesday, 11 hours Thursday, 16
> hours Friday and 19 more Saturday.
>
>
 
--
Dave [log in to unmask]
Cornell '91 OSU Med '95
Let's Go Red!