Bargaining

The next step for the 76ers would be to sign Jerry Stackhouse, but that could take some time. That's because the NBA and the players association do not have a collective bargaining agreement, and because the extension of their season-long no- strike, no-lockout arrangement ends tomorrow. Worse, a group of players have filed legal action that could lead to the decertification of the National Basketball Players Association as the official bargaining agent. And that is expected to lead to action by the owners, perhaps a lockout that would effectively shut down business through the summer.

A federal appeals court in St. Louis has dealt a blow to the NFL Players Association's antitrust suit against the league and spurred the union to consider decertifying itself. The court ruled yesterday that the free agency provisions of the old contract between the league and the union cannot be challenged on antitrust grounds simply because labor negotiations have stalled. In the 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the Eight U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an earlier federal court ruling.

NEW YORK - For just the second time since the beginning of the lockout, representatives for the NBA owners and players met on Wednesday. The bargaining session, which lasted about six hours, included NBA commissioner David Stern and National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy Hunter. Neither side was as forthcoming with negotiation details as after previous meetings, but Stern did promise additional sessions would be scheduled for September as the league tries to avoid a delay in the opening of training camps, which historically start around Oct. 1. The NBA is scheduled to begin its regular-season schedule on Nov. 1, and many observers believe the "drop-dead date" for not missing any games is around mid-October.

In the wake of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's heavy-handed attack on his state's public employees, it's a welcome sign that most Americans are telling pollsters that they object to such union-busting tactics. By a margin of nearly 2-1, a New York Times/CBS poll found the public opposes weakening the bargaining rights of public-employee unions. The solid margin is even more impressive, inasmuch as most people in private-sector jobs themselves likely will never work in a union shop. The outcome of the dispute in Wisconsin remains uncertain.

Bad deal for workers, security Undermining the collective-bargaining rights and civil-service protections of federal employees on the front lines of the war on terrorism does not improve the security of our homeland. It is a sad day in American history when Congress abolishes its interest in a civil-service system and turns its back on hardworking, dedicated, patriotic, middle-class people by not protecting their basic freedom of collective bargaining. On the contrary, if workers in the Department of Homeland Security are denied a voice on the job and empowerment to speak out when systems and procedures are failing, our nation's ability to protect itself will only worsen.

CITY SOLICITOR Romulo Dias said in the Daily News that, in addition to health-and-welfare costs, there are unreasonable new requirements in the pension area in the firefighters contract. He said that in the current contract, the survivor of a pensioner would get 100 percent of the member's pension. That is wrong. The survivor's benefit is 50 percent. If the solicitor took the time to study the state's policemen and fire collective bargaining act, he would know that it gives police and firefighters the right to bargain collectively over the terms and conditions of their employment, including working conditions, retirement, pension and other benefits.

The executive committee of the National Football League Players Association has voted to give up its bargaining rights and to begin the process of decertifying the union, because an appeals court last week refused to overturn the league's free-agency system. The union notified the NFL Management Council in a faxed letter yesterday that its executive committee had voted to undertake decertification. By decertifying, the union hopes to take away the NFL's legal protection for its limited free-agency system, the college draft and the waiver system.

The NBA is in the final hours before the inevitable begins: a lockout. On Wednesday, team owners authorized a lockout if a new collective bargaining agreement isn't in place when the existing agreement expires at midnight Thursday. The final pre-lockout bargaining session between the owners and National Basketball Players Association will take place Thursday in New York. "If no progress is made between the two sides," union chief Billy Hunter told the Sports Business Journal, "then the NBA will impose a lockout.

TRENTON - New Jersey's Republican governor and Democratic state Senate president reached a deal Wednesday on legislation that would make public employees pay more for pension and health benefits, but Assembly Democrats refused to go along, leaving the bill's prospects in doubt. The deal, which would have to be passed by both houses, is intended to shore up the underfunded systems by requiring bigger contributions from all public workers beginning July 1, a person who has been briefed told the Associated Press.

The union for Major League Soccer players accused management of failing to bargain seriously but wouldn't say whether it would play under the terms of its expired labor contract. A day after MLS president Mark Abbott went public with the league's offer to start the season next month without a new deal, the union issued a pair of statements that weren't directly responsive and left open the possibility of the league's first strike. "It is unfortunate that MLS doesn't see the modest changes we have proposed as being good for the league, especially since until these changes are made, more and more quality players who should be playing in MLS will not be doing so," MLS Players Union executive director Bob Foose said yesterday in an e-mail to the Associated Press.