ECHL, players trying to end strike

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2003 | 9:14 a.m.

Larry Landon and Brian McKenna, the top officials who represent the players and owners, respectively, of the ECHL, met Friday in Syracuse to discuss issues that led to a current players' strike.

Although Landon, executive director of the Professional Hockey Players Association, called that meeting "productive," he said the PHPA would prepare for the worst scenario.

" ... as if we'll have to man picket lines for the first time," Landon said.

Based in St. Catharines, Ontario, the PHPA began in 1967. The National Labor Relations Board recognizes it as the U.S. collective bargaining unit for more than 1,400 individuals on 59 teams in the American Hockey League and ECHL.

According to Landon, he and members of his group were buoyed last week when they received letters of support from Gene Upshaw and Don Fehr, the top player representatives, respectively, in the NFL and Major League Baseball.

"In some cases, these young men earn $325 a week," Landon said of the PHPA. "Rest assured, they have support ... (Upshaw and Fehr) would make individuals available to picket with us."

In the offseason, the ECHL expanded by nine markets to forge a 31-team league, with the folding of the WCHL and the addition of the expansion Wranglers in Las Vegas.

The Wranglers are scheduled to make their home debut, at the new Orleans Arena, against Bakersfield on Oct. 21, and league-wide training camps are scheduled to begin next Friday.

Las Vegas coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan declined to comment Monday about the strike negotiations.

McKenna, president of the Princeton, N.J.-based ECHL, was not available for comment, but Landon said he and McKenna agreed to reveal no details about the ongoing talks.

"To discuss the specifics at this point in time would do an injustice to the process," Landon said. "We don't want to derail it. We want to carry momentum forward. Both sides recognize what would happen should a deal not be done."

Monday, Landon said he hoped to gather key officials from both organizations for more face-to-face negotiations, perhaps in Syracuse, by Wednesday.

"Thursday, we might be updating" the situation, Landon said. "I think there will be a big bridging of the gap. Any communication, at this stage, is productive. With no communication, there will be failure on both halves."

This isn't the first rancor between the two parties. In January 2002, ECHL players threatened to strike over dissatisfaction with their insurance program, specifically, a long-term disability benefit.

In a press release Friday, Landon expressed concern about a proposal that was handed back to the PHPA that contained items that had not been previously discussed. He declined to elaborate then or Monday.

A maximum number of veteran players and a salary floor are two issues that are known to be on the PHPA's list of grievances.

Another PHPA official said the union would bend on a salary cap of $8,000 a week, per team, from a rough figure of $8,500 a week, if the ECHL agreed to other terms and conditions. Last season, the ECHL had a weekly cap of $10,000 per team.

Because of the strike, the U.S. Department of Labor is essentially closing the borders to foreign hockey players who might consider crossing the PHPA picket lines.

"Could it (the ECHL) proceed with only Americans?" Landon said. "I don't think fans would support this. Who knows? We're not doing this to be ruthless or greedy, or to get rich in the ECHL.

"We're doing what we can to ensure they'll get something fair and respectable, for the betterment of the league, and we refuse to do it based on the lowest common denominator."