Work Stoppage

ATLANTIC CITY - Eagles coach Andy Reid was asked at the Maxwell Club dinner last night whether thoughts of the lockout seep into his mind. "I've got confidence that it will get done, so I just move forward," Reid said. "You know how I am. We've got a whole lot of things to do to get better as a football team, and that's where my focus is. " Reid was asked about the team's keeping Kevin Kolb: "We'll see," he said. "We would love to have Kevin back as our second quarterback.

Longshoremen this afternoon announced an end to their work stoppage that idled ships for two days at the Port of New York and New Jersey and at Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia. "It is anticipated that as soon as the pickets leave, normal operations will resume," the International Longshoremen's Association said in an afternoon statement. The situation that precipated the stoppage "has not been resolved," but the ILA would return to work at 7 p.m. , the New York Shipping Association said.

After a day of surprise and anger and another of prayer and tears, emotions ran no less raw among Cuban exiles here yesterday after Saturday's stunning blitz by federal authorities to seize 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez and turn him over to his father in Washington. And even as many Cuban Americans coping with the shock held a third day of demonstrations and prayer vigils, much of the rest of this largely Elian-weary city began to creep toward normalcy. The media encampment outside the Little Havana house that had been a magnet for protesters has been dismantled, and the gatherings that had led to nearly 300 arrests since Saturday were mostly peaceful yesterday.

Temple University Hospital's nurses and allied health professionals are eligible for unemployment compensation for their 28-day work stoppage in April, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Unemployment Compensation said in a decision released late Friday. And the hospital will have to foot the bill. The workers are eligible, the five-page decision said, because their work stoppage was a lockout, not a strike. Under the state law governing Temple, unemployment compensation is due when a company locks out employees, but not when they strike.

Temple University Hospital's nurses and allied health professionals are eligible for unemployment compensation during their nearly month-long work stoppage, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Unemployment Compensation said in a decision released late Friday. And the hospital will have to foot the bill. The workers are eligible for unemployment compensation, the five-page decision said, because their 28-day work stoppage in April is considered a lock out, not a strike. Under the state law governing Temple and its employees, workers are eligible for unemployment compensation when a company locks out is employees, but not when they strike.

Nearly 100 white- and blue-collar union employees of Camden's Housing Authority staged a sit-in yesterday - and were expected to spend the night at their job sites - after two mediation and negotiation teams failed to reach contract agreements. Although contract talks did not break off, employees for Council 71 the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees stopped work at 2:15 p.m. to underscore their demand for salary raises and to support the union negotiator's request for round-the-clock talks, which they say has been denied by the Housing Authority.

Under a yellow tent at a side gate the four steelworkers sat - Luciano, Petrizzi, Lattanzi and Calvello - their eight hours of lockout duty winding to a close. Between them, the four men had 121 years at the Fairless Works - Vince Lattanzi, in fact, was hired 34 years ago to help construct the sprawling Falls Township plant - then U.S. Steel Corp., now USX. They had spent their day - Monday, the 18th day of the work stoppage - sitting around talking, eating and waving to the truck drivers going in and out of the gate, presumably to and from the plant's still-stocked supply depot.

I DON'T KNOW the full financial implications to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, but as far as the football operations side, the last thing this franchise can afford is an extended lockout between the NFL owners and players. A team with a long list of offseason issues just added a significant one when coach Andy Reid went back on his words from days earlier and fired defensive coordinator Sean McDermott. If the labor dispute shuts down operations for any significant amount of time, the Eagles are a team up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

More than 270 registered nurses at Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital went on strike early yesterday morning, temporarily blocking vehicles that brought in replacement nurses. In preparation for the work stoppage, MCP, a Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospital, shut down its trauma center on Thursday and decreased the number of patients admitted. Its emergency room remains open. MCP yesterday brought in about 50 traveling nurses employed by a Denver-based agency hired by Tenet.

THE SIXERS were granted possession with 0.7 seconds remaining in the second quarter of Tuesday's preseason win over the Wizards, a minuscule amount of time that usually allows fans to get a head start on beating the bathroom lines. Yet it was still enough time for Sixers coach Doug Collins to see what his first-round pick, Nikola Vucevic, could do in a pressure situation. Collins wanted a 20-second timeout. He called a play for Vucevic to receive the inbound beyond the three-point line at the top of the key. Vucevic took the pass from Jrue Holiday, squared to the basket and released a shot that fell through with 0.1 second remaining.

The 76ers will be home for Christmas but not for the rest of the holidays at the start of the 2011-12 regular season. After a work stoppage that forced the NBA to shorten its season from 82 games to 66, the league released team schedules Tuesday night. The Sixers, who have struggled to get out of the gate in the last two seasons, will start their campaign with a five-game Western Conference trip before their home opener Jan. 6. Their season begins Dec. 26 with a game at Portland.

For now, not much has changed in the lives of NBA players as the league's lockout continues into its second week. Even in times of labor peace, little basketball is played during July anyway. But if the work stoppage drags on into August and beyond - which looks likely - the players must find a way to get in shape and sharpen their skills without the benefit of their teams' facilities and support staffs. Although those under contract are not prohibited from playing full-court basketball during the offseason, they are not under their teams' coverage if they get hurt in a summer-league game, a charity game, or while playing for a team in Europe.

MINNEAPOLIS - The NFL commissioner and the boss of the league's locked-out players stood together this week and addressed the league's rookies, a picture of cooperation that raised hopes pro football would soon be back in business. This, however, is the reality: The league's longest work stoppage has now stretched into July, with gaps that still must be bridged before teams can be assembled and training camps can begin. The next bargaining session has been scheduled for after the holiday weekend, putting the end point of this labor dispute - now well past the 100-day mark - ever closer to the preseason.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith met again Thursday, expanding talks on a pro football labor deal for the first time this week to include owners and players. Sitting down with U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan at a Minneapolis law firm were owners John Mara of the Giants, Clark Hunt of the Chiefs, Jerry Jones of the Cowboys, and Robert Kraft of the Patriots. The players included the Colts' Jeff Saturday , the Chiefs' Brian Waters , and the Ravens' Domonique Foxworth . A person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press that "no big news" was announced but that there was the same kind of optimism as last week when negotiations seemed to be making progress.

Moments after telling reporters that he was probably a couple of weeks away from running again, defensive end Brandon Graham, smiling, broke into a trot. In a three-piece navy suit, no less. Graham, arriving at a charitable gala last week hosted by teammate DeSean Jackson, wanted to show that things weren't so bad, despite the knee injury that soured his rookie season with the Eagles and has left him rehabilitating without team supervision during the NFL lockout. For Graham, the 13th overall pick in the 2010 draft, this offseason should be a crucial one. Players typically make some of their greatest progress from year one in the NFL to year two. But Graham faces two challenges.

NOTHING, IT SEEMS, ever makes Bud Selig look good. His best suits hang on him as if he just emerged from a river. His best moves are often ripped and/or misinterpreted. When he's right, he's lucky. When he's wrong, he's evil. Baseball's Civil Rights Weekend moves to Atlanta just as Georgia decides Arizona's immigration law is a good idea. The All-Star Game arrives this summer in Phoenix under the same cloud, Selig's silence on the subject seen by the law's critics as an implied endorsement.

Seeking more clout in their fight with the NFL, locked-out players asked a federal judge yesterday to make $4 billion in disputed broadcast revenue off limits to the league and to award them at least $707 million in damages, too. U.S. District Judge David Doty took the request under advisement after a 2-hour hearing that included arguments from attorneys for the league and the players. Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for the players, urged Doty to rule quickly on the request to put the $4 billion "war chest" in escrow because of the ongoing lockout.

NEW YORK - For the first time in more than a month, Friday may bring some normal offseason NFL activity, such as supervised workouts and meetings between coaches and players. But trades and free-agent signings will still be on hold as the league's draft enters its second day. The NFL also plans to issue rules that would set the stage for trades and free agency, but those transactions are widely expected to remain on hold until early next week. That means the Eagles are unlikely to trade Kevin Kolb before the end of the three-day draft.

As the work stoppage in the NFL continues, the Eagles are giving season ticketholders the option to defer the second half of their payment. Ticketholders can pay now or will be allowed to wait to pay the balance until the original due date of June 7, or whenever the league officially announces that the season will go on. Those who opt to defer will need to provide a credit card to help speed the process. "With the work stoppage that has occurred and is continuing, fans reached out to ask if we would consider alternative payment plans," Don Smolenski, the Eagles' chief operating officer, said.