The NFLPA filed a grievance Tuesday challenging the national anthem policy imposed by the NFL earlier this year and claim it “is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement and infringes on player rights.”
The union also said that it went to league before filing the grievance to propose “confidential discussions” with the NFLPA Executive Committee to come up with a solution to the issue that works for both sides rather than moving to litigation. The release from the union says that the league has agreed to proceed with such discussions and NFLPA president Eric Winston said on Sirius XM NFL Radio later in the day that players are hopeful those talks will be fruitful.
“Players are hoping to get together and come together with ownership and find a solution,” Winston said. “I think that’s what’s best for the game. I think when we’ve done that, when we’ve had solutions that have come from both sides, that’s been good.”
Winston said that “unilateral decisions” like the anthem policy have been less beneficial to the game and the league’s current policy hasn’t seemed to satisfy anyone, so there may be some reason to hope that a different approach leads to a different result.
