The NFL Players Association is circulating cards among players permitting the union to decertify in the face of a lockout by the owners at the end of the current collective bargaining agreement in 2011.  The NFLPA is not leveling decertification as a threat but wants to maintain the option in order to strengthen its hand in negotiations for a new CBA.

Should the union decertify, it would enable the players to sue the owners for violation of antitrust laws by conducting a group boycott in locking out the players. Maintaining itself as a union would not allow the union to sue because of the labor exemption under the antitrust laws.


The circulation of these cards is just one indication that the new CBA is going to be one difficult negotiation and will take at least as long as there is time remaining on the clock before the current one expires.  As is generally the case with collective bargaining, there is little incentive for the parties to compromise until midnight hour and the option of decertification gives the union an arrow that is at least as dangerous to the owners as a lockout may seem to the players, thus equalizing the playing field and increasing the likelihood of an eventual settlement.