Both sides resorting to legal devices

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Bill Daly (CP)

A lockout involving all 30 NHL teams became less of a certainty Monday even though the league and the players haven't reopened collective bargaining talks.

A scheduled hearing this morning with the Alberta Labour Relations Board -- where the NHL Players' Association was to argue that locking out members of the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames would be unlawful -- ended up being cancelled Monday night.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly had been expected to travel to Edmonton for the hearing and told The Canadian Press in an email: "This is a joke." However, after the NHL withdrew its claim with the labour board, Daly said he felt the league still had the legal authority to impose a lockout in Alberta.

Donald Fehr, the NHLPA's executive director, wouldn't address that matter directly but did take issue with Daly's characterization of the process.

"At this stage of the bargaining I wouldn't be treating anything as a joke," said Fehr. "The proceeding in Alberta is a proceeding that they instituted and then abandoned."

Under Alberta law, a mediator must be appointed before an employer imposes a lockout. The NHLPA took issue with the NHL's request to hold that vote on the grounds it failed to take proper steps during the process and showed no willingness to work with the mediator.

According to Fehr, the NHL then withdrew its request to impose a lockout.

All of this has been playing out while the league and players continue to have no bargaining sessions scheduled before the current CBA expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on Saturday. The league has said it will impose a lockout if that deadline passes without an agreement.

The union also plans to file an application to the Quebec Labour Board this week in an effort to keep Montreal Canadiens players from being locked out. In Quebec, the NHLPA isn't recognized as a certified union, which it believes makes a lockout unlawful.

Even though the disputes in Alberta and Quebec would affect just three of 30 NHL teams, Habs defenceman Josh Gorges expressed hope that it would catch the attention of every owner.

"I think even though it's only three teams that may be involved in this, it may put pressure on other teams to say 'You know what, these guy are getting ready, they're practising, they're getting themselves ready to play -- maybe we should have our players doing the same sort of thing,"' Gorges said on a conference call. "It's unfortunate that it's not the same laws in every city but I think it gives us an opportunity to put pressure on the owners to try to get a deal done so that other teams can join us and we can start playing on time."

The wheels have already been set in motion for the NHL to declare a work stoppage once the CBA expires this weekend. In fact, commissioner Gary Bettman won't even have to make the case for a third lockout under his tenure when the board of governors gathers at a Times Square hotel on Thursday afternoon.

"The commissioner doesn't need specific board authorization to institute or implement a lockout," Daly said in a recent interview. "That has been granted already in connection with his authority to conduct collective bargaining."

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 11, 2012 0