TORONTO (AP) — NHL players will begin voting Sunday on whether they will grant the executive board the authority to dissolve the union because of the inability to reach a collective bargaining agreement with the league.
Two-thirds of the union’s membership must vote in favor of allowing the executive board to file a “disclaimer of interest,” a source told The Canadian Press on Saturday. Votes will be cast electronically over a five-day period that ends Thursday. If the measure passes, the 30-member executive board would have until Jan. 2 to file the disclaimer.
The union is taking steps toward breaking up even after the NHL started mounting a legal challenge against it.
On Friday, the NHL filed a class-action complaint which asked a federal court in New York to make a declaration on the legality of the lockout.
In the 43-page complaint, the league argued the players’ association was only considering the “disclaimer of interest” to “extract more favorable terms and conditions of employment.”
