"Saskin’s salary figures disputed" [Vol. 8 Issue 20, page 1 and 33] by Brent Baird

During the contract negotiations of the new chief executive for the NHL Players Association, Ted Saskin, some major concerns have come to light that player representatives want addressed.

During these negotiations Ted Saskin provided information on comparable salaries of his counter parts in other sports player associations. However these salary figures were inflated, it is believed to help his bargaining position and increase his salary. After the word got out that the numbers were inflated some additional questions were asked about the voting process, and the missed steps according to the player’s association constitution. Saskin had inflated each of the salaries by hundreds of thousands of dollars in an email that was sent to the player’s representatives during the negotiations.

There was also major concern why Saskin was announced as the new chief executive with out a vote of the player’s representative. This concern prompted players to gain the assistance from Robert Lanza a lawyer from New York to assist them in voicing their concerns. This prompted the NHLPA to hold a conference call and a vote on the appointment of Saskin. Then the vote was call into question because it was not done in secret ballot form (which is called for in the organizations constitution). Now some of the representatives are still asking why the appointment and the contract were not voted on separately.

It seems to me that these negotiations should have gone much easier and cleaner if the constitution rules would have been followed and if the process had not been pushed through. A big question is why did the player’s representatives not have any counsel in on the meetings? Separate counsel could have provided the needed information accurately and with out suspicion. Now that this problem has occurred will the players trust that Mr. Saskin is truly looking out for their best interest, or is it a problem just because they were on the other side of a negotiation in which certain questionable tactics were employed. Only the player representatives and Saskin can answer that question.