A few days after he gave up the race to become the new president of the NFL Players Association, Russell Okung promised to continue discipline for the NFLPA’s own executive director, alleging that DeMaurice Smith helped silence and threaten players during the recent NFLPA negotiations on a new collective agreement. with the NFL.
As previously reported, Okung on Monday filed an official complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, a federal labor practices agency, accusing Smith, the executive director of the NFLPA since 2009, of negotiating the CBA in bad faith. Okung detailed his charge on Thursday Twitter posting a letter from an additional outside legal counsel he uses to “pursue this claim”.
“The NFLPA staff management has removed members of the executive from the process, in violation of their membership duties,” said the letter. “When asked to consider the proposed CBA, the Executive Committee recognized the shortcomings of the proposal and the need to amplify certain provisions, and voted not to send the proposal to the grassroots. NFLPA staff management, in particular violation of his functions, ignored the Executive and sent the proposal to members for vote. “
Okung, of course, refers to the executive committee of which he is a member – the same who voted in February 6-5, to recommend not passing the ABC proposed by NFL owners to players for a majority vote.
In addition, the Okung NLRB’s complaint claims that the NFLPA tried to silence him “with threats of criminal prosecution and union sanctions”, as reported by ProFootballTalk.
All registered NFLPA members (that is, NFL players) have until 11:59 p.m. Saturday. AND to vote “yes” or “no” for the proposed CBA, which would extend the NFL playoffs and later the NFL regular season, among others.
