The NBA Lockout - Essay Example

A labor union uses certain tools to enforce their demands such as strikes and collective bargaining with the management, while the management uses tools such as lockouts to strengthen their position in a negotiation. There are a number of causes for a lockout. A lockout can be triggered by a strike of the labor union, for example, if the strike causes loss to the organization, the management of the organization may call a lockout in order to weaken the position of the workers and the management may continue the lockout unless the workers leave the union and agree to work with the organization or the labor union ends the strike and agrees the terms of the management.

In more common cases, a lockout takes place when the labor union refuses to accept the final offer made by the management of an organization in a negotiation. In such scenarios, the management calls for a lockout in order to put pressure over the workers to accept the offer of the management. The case with the NBA lockout is quite similar to the second example presented above. The NBA owners initiated the lockout after the owners proposed significant cuts in the salaries but the union of players refused to accept the offer.

The contract ended before the union and the NBA owners could reach a final settlement and the scenario resulted in a lockout. From the analysis of the historical data available regarding the NBA lockouts, it has been found that the main reason behind lockouts is the failure to negotiate the salary system of the players. In some scenarios, the management agrees to accept the demands of the union as a result of the shock effect but in case of NBA the negotiations are usually stricter as compared to other organizations.

In the 1998-99 NBA lockout the owners wanted to change the salary cap system of the players and sought to cut down the overall salaries of the players. The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) refused to accept the plans of the owners and demanded for increases in the salaries of the players. Ultimately, the negotiations reached a dead end and a consensus could not be reached by both the sides and this scenario ended in a lockout which lasted from 1 July 1998 to 20 February 1999. The 2011 NBA lockout occurred due to a reason similar to that of the 1998-99 lockout.

The last negotiations between the owners and the players took place in 2005 and both sides reached a deal before the end of the last contract. The term of the contract was six years and it was due to end on 30 June 2011. In order to enter into a fresh contract, negotiations between the owners and the players started in the beginning of 2011. The argument on the owner side was a little stricter this time because the owners presented a claim that they were not gaining enough revenue and they were bearing a loss of $300 million each year.

The league proposed to reduce the salaries of the players by as much as 40% and it also proposed a modification on the salary cap of teams which would result in a reduction of the salaries of the players. Such strict changes were completely unacceptable by the union which did not consider these figures equitable for the players, thus the union initiated collective bargaining with the owners. The union planned to be steadfast in its bargaining to such as extent that the director of the union, Billy Hunter, advised the players to be ready for a lockout which was expected considering the strictness on both sides of the negotiation