Union Files Suit to End Lockout

The NBA players union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday, seeking to end the three-week-old lockout because it was imposed improperly.

The union alleges the NBA imposed the lockout without having bargained to an impasse as required under the National Labor Relations Act.

“The NBA can’t call a lockout until games are scheduled to begin,” union director Billy Hunter said. “At this point, any unilateral change, including a ban on free-agent signings, is premature and impermissible under the labor laws.”

The NLRB played a major role in bringing the baseball strike to an end in 1995, finding that owners had not bargained in good faith up until the point when the players went on strike. The NLRB asked a federal judge to grant an injunction restoring baseball’s old work rules, and the strike ended March 31, 1995, when Judge Sonia Sotomayor granted the injunction.

“The board will determine, on as prompt a basis as possible, whether the rights of the basketball players, as employees, have been violated,” said Daniel Silverman, regional director of the NLRB’s New York office. “We fully recognize the needs of the parties and the public for a decision without delay, and we will do our best to meet that objective.”

Silverman said his office will conduct an investigation over the next few weeks, then make a determination what to do next.

If the board agrees with the union, it can ask a federal judge to issue an injunction restoring terms of the old collective bargaining agreement that expired June 30.

“NBA players want to play ball,” Hunter said. “The players have instructed us to do everything in our power to prevent NBA owners from delaying the start of the 1998-99 season.”

In its one-page filing, the union said the lockout is not really a lockout, but rather a unilateral imposition of changes to work rules.

The union asked that an injunction be granted so players can be allowed to negotiate and sign contracts under terms of the old agreement.

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If NBA owners and players are able to reach a new collective bargaining agreement, the season will open with 10 games on Nov. 3. The Lakers open at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Nov. 4. The Clippers open Nov. 4 at Sacramento.

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A California arbitrator has upheld Converse’s termination of Latrell Sprewell as an endorser and spokesman, the Massachusetts shoe company announced Thursday.

Converse fired Sprewell in December after the Golden State Warrior star attacked his coach, P.J. Carlesimo. Sprewell filed suit against Converse on Dec. 29, 1997, claiming the company did not have the right to fire him.

Los Angeles arbitrator Robert Holtzman’s ruling OKs Converse’s decision and requires the shoe company to pay only Sprewell’s endorsement fees before his firing.