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Smith says recertification still an issue

Print | Comments () Posted by Greg A. Bedard July 21, 2011 03:05 PM

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By Greg A. Bedard, Globe staff

NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith just made a statement to the media in Washington, D.C. in which he explained the decision by the players on whether or not to recertify as a union has not yet been made, and is not a certainty.

That needs to happen for the NFL to move forward with new collective bargaining agreement.

"Every individual person has to make a decision about whether they want to be part of a union and recommendations made by the executive committee as advisors to the class or the board of directors as advisors to the class is just that. The individual decision is something that our players take extremely serious. So I came down here to deliver that because i know there are a lot of things swirling out there, and I certainly remember comments from some of the owners about how we might not even be like a real union. Well, guess what? The decision to decertify was important, because at the time we were a real union and the decision for our players as men to come back as a union, is going to be an equally serious and very sober one that they have to make."