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Sabato 02 Dicembre 2006 13:26 |
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The president of the The European Basketball Players Union (UBE), Giuseppe Cassi, sent a letter yesterday to the FIBA Europe office in which the Euroleague is accused of “trying to impose an employment contract on the players using coercive methods that is a real abuse of its dominant position and a monopolistic action that violates the right of the employees (the players) to negotiate on an equal basis with their employers (the teams).” Last season, UBE presented a written brief to Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu that informed him and the Euroleague teams of the illegal aspects of the contract especially in the those countries with Collective Bargaining Agreements under which a majority of the Euroleague teams are bound. The Euroleague has yet to respond to this brief or to change its approach, despite a meeting between Jordi Bertomeu and UBE president Cassi. Giuseppe Cassi: “ In my meeting with Mr. Bertomeu,, I communicated the players concerns and attemed to build a bridge of dialogue in order to convince the Euroleague to abandon this path. Apparently, the message was not received. We have established concretely that the players have been pressured and threatened that they would not be able to play if they did not sign the Euroleague contract and this has left us no other choice but to denounce it publicly.” |
