Perspective crucial in union talks

You and I know that the reactivation of the pro basketball players’ association–or union, if it’s been so organized according to law–was triggered by talk that the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Board of Governors will reduce the individual salary cap from P500,000 to P350,000 monthly starting next season.

The apprehension is that salary scales will correspondingly decrease, down the line, meaning all players will be affected not just the marquee stars earning the biggest bucks in Asia’s first play-for-pay league.

You can’t blame the players for feeling uneasy or even insecure. Basketball is, after all, their livelihood. And basketball isn’t a forever thing. While you’re still playing, it’s important that you derive as much from the game as you can to save for the future.

The apprehension is the reason why veterans Jojo Lastimosa and Alvin Patrimonio, the leaders behind the reactivation of the players’ association, are training their gunsights on Fil-shams. The argument is Fil-foreigners, on the whole, are earning more than home-grown locals and if there are still Fil-shams around, they should be weeded out in a hurry because they’re taking away from legitimate players.

Jojo and Alvin, I’m sure, aren’t carping because they’re envious of what some Fil-foreigners take to the bank. Give them more credit than that. What they want is to leave a legacy for those following in their footsteps. Jojo and Alvin are nearing the end of their brilliant careers so they’re stepping out for others, not for themselves.

Cracking the whip on Fil-shams is a priority. But it’s not the PBA’s mandate to investigate whether or not a Fil-foreigner is legitimate. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) clear every Fil-foreigner playing in the PBA as a local. For a Fil-foreigner to be declared a Fil-sham, he must be uncleared by the government authorities that cleared them in the first place.

Sen. Robert Barbers reportedly has the goods on at least nine Fil-shams. He has the authority to order a police investigation on the suspected Fil-shams. If the Fil-shams are uncovered, then they will not only be banned from playing in the PBA but also deported from the country. Additionally, their agents should be exposed for conniving to hoodwink the government, the PBA, and the public. If the agents are Filipino, they should be charged in court. Come to think of it, if the Fil-shams insist they’re Filipino, they’re liable to be charged in local courts, too, and suffer the consequences.

Sen. Robert Jaworski’s suggestion to defer investigating Fil-shams until the end of the ongoing All-Filipino Cup makes sense. An investigation will only disrupt the proceedings of the league’s season-ending conference. A deferment will allow Fil-shams to pack their bags and quietly leave the country before the axe falls. Al Segova, Rob Parker, and Sonny Alvarado–the original Fil-shams–disappeared when they realized the heat was on.

On the subject of the players’ association, it’s important to point out that the PBA may be similar to the National Basketball Association (NBA) in terms of their competitive nature but the leagues are distinctly different in the way they conduct their business.

In the PBA, companies own franchises essentially to advertise and promote their products, not to make money directly from operations. That’s the only way a team can justify player salaries. A team’s share of ticket sales, merchandise income, and TV revenues will never be enough to cover the cost of operations unless salary scales are drastically reduced to levels that may not make it worth the effort of playing for a living. Note that in the PBA, all the franchises are based in Metro Manila unlike in the NBA.

Jojo, Alvin, and the players must put into perspective what they’re bargaining for on the negotiating table. They must realize that the PBA isn’t the NBA.

It was the legendary Bob Cousy who spearheaded the creation of a players’ association in the NBA in the 1950s. Players weren’t serious about their association until Larry Fleischer, a Harvard lawyer from New York, came along in 1961.

"Did the NBA players need a union?" asked Dale Hofmann and Martin Greenberg in their book Sportsbiz.

"As Fleischer put it, before 1967, the players had no salary minimums, no pension, no health, accident or life insurance. It certainly had no collective bargaining agreement, something the association achieved for the first time in the history of professional sports. By 1976, the basketball players had pensions, insurance, trainers, a contract that said they didn’t even have to carry their own bags on the road, and an average salary of $109,000. This was when baseball still had a $17,000 minimum."

Hofmann and Greenberg explained that the players’ unions do what unions do in other businesses—they hammer out working conditions, grievance procedures, benefit packages, travel expenses, and a host of other things. "They also negotiate salary minimums and player movement," continued the writers. "Once the unions are through, the agents take over. They work out salaries and bonuses for individual players with individual clubs. Just remember that in sports, CBAs set minimums, individual negotiations set salaries. Two kinds of contracts, individual and collective."

Fleischer, who died in 1989, never strong-armed the NBA into agreeing to unreasonable demands. He never struck a militant posture. Fleischer argued that NBA teams would have folded (and) jobs would have been lost if he were more persistent, noted Armen Keteyian, Harvey Araton and Martin Dardis in their book Money Players—the Days and Nights Inside the New NBA. Fleischer knew when to twist the screws and when to hold back. The result was a healthy relationship between the players, through the union, and league officials.

Jojo and Alvin should take the cue from Fleischer. PBA team owners aren’t unreasonable. But just because they’re willing to listen, they shouldn’t be pushed against the wall. The players must understand that all PBA teams operate in the red and whatever concessions they’re able to negotiate will only plunge the franchises deeper into loss. That’s why perspective is vital in any reasonable discussion involving players’ salaries, benefits, and working conditions.

Reactivating the players’ association is a step in the right direction. Let’s hope it leads to a healthier, stronger, and more binding relationship among the parties that make up the PBA.