Monthly pension paid to Hall of Famer Herb Adderley for his 12 years of service - $126.85!
Even MC Hammer recognizes the dysfunctionality of the NFLPA and has offered to act as an intermediary in getting new ideas to the players’ union in its collective bargaining negotiations. (Are you listening, Gene?) From his blog piece NFL Talks End HERE.
We’ve been getting requests recently to help pull groups together for one cause or another. This one came in from Dave Heuschkel at The Hartford Courant and speaks for itself:
For a guy who knows the law and can read his NFLPA card, the NFLPA’s Gene Upshaw seems to keep coming up a few fries short of a Happy Meal. I just received this call-to-arms from Tony Davis asking for all of us retired players (and all lovers of the game) to write or call your Senators and Congressmen (and Congresswomen) to let them know about this outrageous and open looting of our resources by people who have no concern for our welfare at all. Tony includes links to e-mail and/or office addresses for members of Congress and the Senate. (You may want to include NFL in the subject line to make sure they don’t dump your correspondence if they see you’re from out of their district!)
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:52:08 -0700 (PDT) “M.E. Davis” wrote:
We surfed over to the official NFLPA website to see if we could look over the “Rules & Regulations” in more detail when we discovered there was a “Resources” button on the left side of the screen. When you click on it, this is what you get:
On Tue, Mar 18, 2008 at 6:56 AM, Dave Pear wrote:
John,
This weekend, I received an insightful e-mail back from our SS Disability attorney friend, John Hogan, with his observations about the proposed Alliance Plan from Commissioner Goodell. I told him I’d try calling Sarah Gaunt again on Monday morning.
So this morning, I called the Union office again to ask about this new plan and the call was picked up by a ‘CJ’ who apparently runs the front desk (or screens our calls). I told her who I was and asked to speak with Sarah regarding some questions I had. I was put on hold for about 5 minutes. When she finally came back on the line, she told me that Sarah was “busy” (again) and couldn’t take my call. So I asked her if I could pose the questions to her instead, to which she told me that she was “busy with other calls.” To which I asked her what the difference was with MY call and any other calls she might have. She again put me on hold and then hung up on me a couple of minutes later without coming back on the line.
After posting Dave’s application to Commissioner Goodell’s Alliance, we felt it was as good a time as any to follow up with an old interview Sports Blogger, Michael David Smith, had with Dave in 2006 for Football Outsiders.
I sent this to Mr. Lawrence Lamade at the law firm of Akin Gump, who has represented the League for over 30 years and was directed by the Commissioner’s office to assist me in providing information from my union (the NFLPA) because I have been unsuccessful in obtaining my benefits. To date, Mr. Lamade has also been unsuccessful in obtaining this information for me. If you look over the attached documents, you’ll see that in 1981 and in 1984, my injuries were well-documented by reputable doctors and clinics (my surgeon was no less than the Dean of Neurosurgery at the Stanford Medical Center) and clearly football-related. Additionally, the Social Security Administration has already recognized and acknowledged my work-related injury with their documentation and I’ve been receiving Social Security Disability since July 2004. Although the NFLPA disqualified me for disability in the 80′s, when I finally submitted my application to Social Security in 2003, they completed their review quickly and with certainty that my injuries were work-related and therefore qualified for SS disability. And the letter from the NFL’s own neutral doctor in 1995 acknowledged the extent of my deteriorating condition and permanent disability as a substantial disablement, as well as the limitations to my mobility and activities.
Two questions come to mind: 1) Was the NFL & the NFLPA clearly incorrect in their arbitrary decisions to deny my claims in 1983 and 1995 and 2) Should my compensation be retroactive if decided in my favor now that I’m re-presenting my documentation with an irrefutable ruling from the Social Security Administration (and the Court of Public Opinion)?
In helping Dave out with his blog, I often get really caught up in everyone’s frustrations. So yesterday, I posted a call-to-arms to The Donald himself. We need to bring the big guns in to help the disabled players in their battle to get justice. And it starts with firing Gene Upshaw. A little bit of levity doesn’t hurt either. My post is HERE.
I’m scratching my head after reading a new article in Business Week today about Vikram Pandit, the new CEO of Citigroup, the largest bank in the world. Apparently, for his stellar performance in steadying the company after its mortgage-related crisis, the new CEO was paid a princely total of $3.16 million in salary and perks. I keep coming back to Gene Upshaw’s salary of $6 million+ for heading the NFLPA last year and wondering what incredible feats of management he must have performed to deserve an even more generous salary than the CEO of the largest bank in the world. I mean, I’m sure the guy also knows the law and can certainly read but… Ah, inquiring minds want to know.
With so much being posted in the media and on blogs, we somehow missed this incredible piece by Dennis Schaal from CRO (Corporate Responsibility Officer). The article is detailed analysis of the history and evolution of how the NFL and NFLPA ended up in the antagonistic position they find themselves today, along with some suggestions and solutions for resolving a lot of the problems they’re facing with the increasingly visible and growing number of disabled retired players.
Disability denials from the NFLPA will be reconsidered (not immediately granted as promised by Doug Ell to the Senate in June 2007) for retired players found disabled by social security disability.
Social Security Disability Attorney, John Hogan, has graciously provided a list of tips on How to Obtain Your Social Security Disability Decision. Thanks, John!
From Mercury Morris: (The Seattle Times Sunday Magazine – page 24 2nd and 3rd paragraph) February 3, 2008 Super Bowl Sunday.
“The NFL and the union are no longer adversaries but instead complicit.” When the owners gave the players the power over the money, that took the responsibility away from the owners and put it on the players.
