Eagles player representative Winston Justice was on the conference call with DeMaurice Smith at 2 p.m. Friday.
At that time, the NFLPA executive director told the players that they were still negotiating in good faith, and to hold tight for further word. By 5 p.m. that word came down: The union would decertify.
“We are behind the people that are negotiating for us right now,”
said Justice. “They would not decertify if it wasn’t in the best interest of the players.”
During the season, each team voted to allow decertifiation if the situation warranted. Essentially, the NFLPA loses its status as a union through this move, while safeguarding against a lockout and setting up a potential antitrust lawsuit against the league.
Justice is fielding calls from his teammates who are trying to figure out what comes next. At this point, it is hard for he or anyone else to predict the future.
“Hopefully (the work stoppage) doesn’t go into the season,”
said Justice. “We want to be treated fairly. It’s not only about us, it’s about the future of the league and future players.“
“We just want to play; we just want the same deal that we’ve had. It’s the owners that want something different.”
