Ongoing CBA discussions

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

Wish that this were the case - - but I doubt it.

She can suggest that the sides get together and talk but I doubt that she can order them to do so or else she will find both sides in contempt of court and put them all behind bars. [Come to think of it, THAT might solve this problem quickly...]

She cannot force either side to agree to anything when/if they do agree to any more negotiating on their own or with a mediator.

Plus, whatever she decides is going to face an appeal no matter which side sees itself as the "loser" here. It is even possible that her ruling will contain something that both sides find unpalatable such that both sides appeal the ruling.

No offense to Judge Nelson here, but she is but one cog in a much larger legal wheel that will turn for a while before all of this is settled - - outside of her courtroom...

I don't disagree with anything that you said except that the concept of putting people behind bars goes too far. She does have the power to grant the injunction to end the lockout. Sure, that will be appealed, but that still means more forward progress than with Jerry Jones banging his fist and being totally uncooperative without penalty, as we saw before.

Plus, in the longer term she may be overseeing things as Doty did before. That creates a stick for both sides to play relatively nice and cooperatively.

Further, she can really damage the PR built up by either side. For example, if owners are in clear violation of her requests, it will be easy to perceive them as the greedy bad guys.

My original comparison was to the government shutdown threat, which had no referee with teeth in between the parties. Nelson may have limited teeth but they are better than no teeth at all.