Could Pension Plan Changes Trigger Unionization Of Coaches?

Like the NFL’s players, the NFL’s coaches have an “association.” Unlike the NFL’s players, the NFL’s coaches don’t have a true union.
Yet.
Amid growing consternation regarding changes some teams are making in the wake of a March decision to allow the individual franchises to opt out of the league-run pension plan, unionization of the assistant coaches represents one of the potential logical outcomes.
Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported Tuesday night, and reiterated Wednesday night, that veteran Colts offensive line coach Howard Mudd plans to retire due to the situation, and that veteran Colts offensive coordinator Tom Moore could be next.
Also, Clark Judge of CBSSports.com reports that a memo circulated among coaches on Wednesday lists the teams that already have decided to pull out of the league-run pension plan: the 49ers, Saints, Cardinals, Bills, Falcons, Cowboys, Texans, and Patriots. (Judge points out that, per Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com, the Jaguars will follow suit.)
Judge also reports that 17 of the teams have decided to keep their current plans in place, and that seven (the Dolphins, Vikings, Seahawks, Rams, Bengals, and Bucs) are contemplating the situation.
Judge says that one team’s assistant coaches are contemplating a full-squad resignaton. Another team’s assistants might walk out for a day.
That’s the kind of talk that reflects the kind of thinking that results in the formation of the kind of thing known under federal law as a union.
There’s a belief that the adjustment to the pension plans constitutes one piece of the league’s broader effort to persuade the NFLPA that, financially, the league isn’t thriving. The obvious goal? To persuade the players that the current labor deal must change.
As we previously have pointed out, the broader strategy to plan for a potential work stoppage in 2011 also includes contracts for assistant coaches that primarily if not uniformly expire after the 2010 season, putting assistant coaches at risk of having no income while the teams and the players work out their differences.
So, by potentially making the assistant coaches pawns in a broader effort to do battle with the players’ union, the league could be forced ultimately to deal with yet another union representing a subset of its employees.