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Smith faces the greatest leadership challenge in his 12 years as the head of the union. On Tuesday, the union’s selection committee was deadlocked, 7-7, on whether to give Smith a new contract and a fifth term. Four years ago, that same committee voted unanimously to extend Smith’s term.
Smith must now get the approval of two-thirds of the team’s 32 reps to avoid an open election, which could lead to more unrest within the union and undermine what has generally been a cooperative relationship with Goodell.
The opposition stems from lingering resentment over the 10-year labor agreement players ratified in March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic gripped the country. Aaron Rodgers, Richard Sherman and other players were furious that Smith, who initially opposed the owners’ insistence on adding a 17th game, ended up supporting him. The union’s own executive committee – normally a source of support for Smith – voted against the deal. But the union continued anyway and the agreement was ratified by just 60 votes, garnering 51.5% of the vote among a group of over 2,000 members.
Some players were unhappy that the union was only able to recoup an additional percentage point of league revenue from the owners in exchange for a 17th game. Others noted that there is no mechanism to reopen the deal before it expires in 2031, which some union critics see as a concession favorable to owners. The union also agreed to cut benefits for around 400 permanently disabled former players, a move Smith had to justify later.
Additionally, some players have been upset that union leadership has approved Smith’s latest extension and are keen to at least hold an open election to consider other candidates.
“For the players this can mean a long period of dissatisfaction with a CBA that was not all they hoped for,” said Robert Boland, who teaches a course on collective bargaining in professional sports at Penn. State University. “It turned into a referendum on Smith’s 12-year term.”
Boland represented Russell Okung, an executive committee member who last March accused Smith and union staff of acting in bad faith by forcing a vote on the labor agreement over the committee’s objections, in violation of the constitution of the union. Okung also accused the union leadership of trying to muzzle him into exposing the lack of transparency regarding the committee’s negotiations with NFL owners, which began in 2019.
Okung asked the National Labor Relations Board to intervene, but the independent federal agency responsible for protecting employee rights refused. His case, however, turned out to be a harbinger of the discontent that continued into 2021, long before Gruden’s email surfaced.
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