
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 13, 1995                   TAG: 9509130033
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

NBA UNION WINS VOTE

Turning away from the labor woes that have hobbled other professional sports, NBA players have voted to retain their union and, in essence, approve a tentative collective-bargaining agreement that could lead to an on-time start for the 1995-96 season.

In a landslide victory in balloting announced Tuesday afternoon by the National Labor Relations Board, 226 of 420 eligible players voted against decertification of the NBA Players' Association. There were 134 votes for decertification. Had decertification won, the union would have been dissolved and a new labor agreement pursued through antitrust litigation in the federal courts.

The voting was done Aug.30 and Sept.7 at NLRB offices around the country. Implied in the victory is a strong show of support for the union's executive director, Simon Gourdine, and a six-year deal reached in August between the union and the league that guarantees players a minimum of $5 billion in league revenues. The agreement tightens some loopholes in the league's salary cap, which places a ceiling on team payrolls, but eventually will increase the average player salary to $3 million.

``A majority of voices have been heard loudly and clearly,'' said Portland forward Buck Williams, president of the union and its highest-ranking player. ``We needed an agreement.

The players ignored two of their biggest stars, Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls and Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks, who led the decertification effort, arguing the proposed agreement would shortchange the players in the long run.

Now both sides must ratify the agreement. Gourdine will meet today in Chicago with the player representatives from 27 teams (excluding incoming expansion franchises Toronto and Vancouver), who are expected to approve the proposed contract (21 votes are needed for passage). NBA owners are expected to approve the deal by Monday, enabling commissioner David Stern to lift a 73-day lockout

If there are no further delays (the players seeking decertification may appeal with the NLRB to have the vote set aside), the NBA will compress several months of off-season signings and trades into a 21/2-week stint from Sept.19 to the opening of training camps Oct.6.

``We're obviously disappointed,'' said Jeffrey Kessler, the lead attorney for Jordan, Ewing and the other dissident players. ``I believe this is a terrible vote for the players and they will regret it for a long time. We have seven days to make a decision on a course of action, but my guess is that it won't take that long. It'll be the players' call.''

Keywords:
BASKETBALL

by CNB