LarryCoon Larry Coon
If you mean, does he have the authority to dictate terms, then no. RT @demeatloaf: Does the mediator have any authority over what happens?
3 hours ago » LarryCoon Larry Coon
...then it could facilitate the process. @kobe_rules
3 hours ago » LarryCoon Larry Coon
If the two sides are honestly trying to find a common ground and are just stuck, RT @kobe_rules: Does that mean there will be a deal?
3 hours ago » LarryCoon Larry Coon
...wouldn't let the two sides do. @Bookgirl96
3 hours ago » LarryCoon Larry Coon
It could facilitate the process. There are directions a mediator would push, and things they RT @Bookgirl96: What does that mean, though?
3 hours ago » LarryCoon Larry Coon
RT @vgoodwill: NBPA chief Billy Hunter just revealed both sides will meet with a federal mediator on Monday...props to @Al_Iannazzone
3 hours ago

http://twitter.com/#!/LarryCoon

Apparently George Cohen is going to mediate the dispute. From Berger:

Posted on: October 12, 2011 6:24 pm
Edited on: October 12, 2011 7:05 pm
Print Email a Friend Facebook Twitter ShareScore: 116
Log-in to rate:Log-in to rate: Log-in to rate: The NBA labor talks are headed for government intervention after the canceling of games drew the attention of the nation's top federal mediator.

George Cohen, director of the federal mediation and conciliation service, will be in New York City Monday to interview separately executives from the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association, two people with knowledge of the meeting told CBSSports.com Wednesday. The two parties will then meet in Cohen's office Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

Billy Hunter, the NBPA's executive director, divulged in a radio interview with WFAN in New York earlier Wednesday that the two sides had agreed to have their failed negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement federally mediated.

Cohen, appointed by President Obama, was called upon to mediate the NFL's labor negotiation with the NFL Players Association before that sport's recent lockout was imposed. He has no binding authority and can only make suggestions. If nothing else, a fresh set of eyes and opinions -- not to mention meetings with a different venue and format -- couldn't hurt.

Cohen has argued five landmark labor cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and last year helped avert a crisis in Major League Soccer's labor talks. He is a former appellate court attorney with the National Labor Relations Board, and in fact argued before then-U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor on the day she issued an injunction that effectively ended the Major League Baseball strike in 1995. Cohen was the MLBPA's lead attorney in the case, and also has worked with the NBPA.

In a Los Angeles Times article from March, footbal agent Leigh Steinberg said a good mediator is "an expert in the psychology of human gridlock." To that extent, Cohen has joined the right fight, as the NBA and NBPA are hopelessly, needlessly gridlocked over issues that should have been easily solved once they approached a compromise on how to divide the sport's $4 billion of revenues. The league's bargaining talks broke off Monday night after 13 hours over two days and multiple sessions over a two-week period. The league on Monday canceled the first two weeks of the regular season.

Drawn by the fact that lost games will have an economic impact beyond the parties involved, Cohen's office called both parties this week to request that they voluntarily participate in mediation, two sources said. Both agreed.

For those wondering why the step wasn't taken sooner, federal mediators generally don't get involved in labor disputes unless asked, or unless they reach an impasse after the sides had ample time to bargain. The NFL requested Cohen's involvement before the lockout was imposed, and while it's unclear what impact he had on the ultimate resolution, his powers at the time were muted by the lack of urgency in the talks.

http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/32681742