Battle brewing in CFLPA ranks?
UNION SHAKEUP: Clash for presidency and drug-testing debate expected at meeting
MONTREAL — The appearance, at least from a distance, is there’s trouble brewing yet again within the ranks of the Canadian Football League Players Association barely two years after a collective agreement was signed.
But Alouettes safety Marc-Olivier Brouillette, the team’s first player representative, views the situation somewhat differently.
“I don’t think we’re necessarily fighting. There’s been a lot of discussion recently about people at least challenging for the different positions,” Brouillette said. “I think it’s healthy. Let’s have some options. Let’s see what someone else has to say, what direction they think the players association should go.”
Brouillette, who has been an Als player representative for two years, will be in Las Vegas when the association begins its three-day annual general meeting Thursday. A published report by TSN Sunday indicated the tenure of president Scott Flory, a former Montreal guard, was being threatened by Jeff Keeping, a vicepresident who will run for the position. The report indicated Keeping, an offensive lineman signed last month by Winnipeg as a free agent, had the support of fellow vice-presidents Mar wan Hage and Jay McNeil.
While Flory didn’t return a telephone message, he indicated in a text message he’ll be willing to talk after the meetings conclude.
When the five-year collective agreement was ratified in June 2014, Brouillette was outspoken in his belief the players made too many concessions. The salary cap immediately went from $4.4 million to $5 million, increasing by $50,000 annually to a total of $5.2 million in 2018. Similarly, the minimum salary of $45,000 was bumped to $50,000 immediately, with additional $1,000 increments annually to a total of $54,000 in 2018.
But Brouillette wasn’t a player rep at the time. Now that he has firsthand knowledge of the association’s dealings, he has come to appreciate Flory’s body of work. Flory became president in 2014, unseating Mike Morreale.
“I can tell you Scott was handed a pretty (bad) set of cards going into those negotiations. The players association was a mess. It was a complete mess,” said Brouillette, one of four players expected to contest the third vice-president’s position this week.
“We were in the red for several consecutive years. Scott has brought a lot of structure to it. He’s corrected a lot of things and brought us back into the black. I think he has a good plan going into the next round of CBA talks.”
Nonetheless, Brouillette isn’t as yet prepared to publicly endorse Flory until hearing Keeping’s ideas and vision. Brouillette, however, said if Flory was to run unopposed for a second term, “I would have no issue with that at all.”
Many other topics are on the agenda for discussion before votes are cast Saturday, but Brouillette believes the hot issue heading into the new season is the league’s seemingly inadequate drug policy.
“There needs to be a drug policy in place,” he said emphatically. “We took a small step forward with everything surrounding the combine. But a lot of the (veterans) want something done.
“We went a whole (2015) season unregulated and untested. Who knows if someone, all these (winter) months, has been banking on the fact, maybe, we won’t reach an agreement? And they’ve been loading up for the upcoming season.”
Last month, the CFL announced more stringent rules for players guilty of violating anti-doping rules, but it affects only incoming players from the university and college ranks who are draft eligible. No changes have been made to the league’s drug policy for veterans. Indeed, after severing ties last year with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) — the program’s administrator — the CFL continues operating without a drug-testing program.
New CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge, citing a breach of confidentiality, ended the league’s relationship with the CCES and its contracted lab. Meanwhile, the drug policy was regarded as spineless, with no suspension for first-time offenders who were allowed to remain anonymous.
Brouillette said he would like to see players tested for human growth hormone.
“A lot of the reps are expecting something large in return from the league (for acquiescing to drug testing). They’re still bitter about the CBA,” Brouillette said.
“I don’t think we’re necessarily fighting. There’s been a lot of discussion ... ” — Marc-Olivier Brouillette