To clarify the earlier discussions, we have had as a membership, this note details the timing of our collective bargaining and what to expect during the upcoming months.

Key dates in summary:

February 15, 2019   CFLPA to officially give Notice to Bargain to CFL
March 2019             CFLPA and CFL expected to begin negotiating a new CBA

As previously discussed, the CFLPA and the CFL have been meeting frequently for the last 15 months. Although these meetings are prescribed in the collective agreement, they were not previously done. The intentions of the meetings were to collectively agree on mutually beneficial issues. This was the case, as we were able to find solutions on several issues, (reduction in padded practices, net vs gross calculations on player discipline and the Live Mic initiative for the 2018 season) that historically would have been addressed at the bargaining table.

In January 2019, we met with the CFL and mutually agreed to begin bargaining in March. By then, we will have concluded our Annual General Meeting (in late February) where we expect to finalize our bargaining package on behalf of all CFL players.

As planned, we intend to give formal notice, as prescribed by most Provincial labour codes, to the CFL on February 15^th, 2019.

This excerpt from the Ontario Labour Code explains more:

“If the employer and the union are already bound by a collective agreement, then either party may give notice to bargain:

• within the 90 days before the agreement is due to expire, or
• during any other period set out in the agreement.

In either case, the union and the employer must meet within 15 days from the giving of notice, unless they agree to some other time period. (See Sections 16, 17 and 59 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995).”