National Hockey League Players Association
 |
|
| Full name | National Hockey League Players' Association |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 1967 |
| Members | 725 (2012-2013) |
| Key people |
Donald Fehr Mathieu Schneider |
| Office location |
 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
|
| Country |
Canada United States
|
| Website | NHLPA.com |
The National Hockey League Players' Association (French: Association des joueurs de la Ligue nationale de hockey; AJLNH) or NHLPA is the union for professional hockey players in the National Hockey League (NHL). Created in 1967, the union negotiates and enforces fair terms and conditions of employment for NHL players.
The members of each NHL club elect a Club Player Representative and an Alternative Club Player Representative. Each Club Player Representative serves as a voting member of the NHLPA Executive Board. The Executive Director also sits on the Executive Board as a non-voting member.
Hockey is a sport with a strong sense of history, whose players take an active interest in the integrity and growth of the game. The NHLPA acknowledges the legacy work undertaken in the 1950s by the first Players Association President, Ted Lindsay, and helped establish the NHL Alumni to represent the rights of hockey's greatest family: its retired players. The NHLPA continues to advance the cause of the players' rights, strengthen its membership, and keep pace with the evolving world of professional hockey.
The first NHLPA was formed in 1957, led by Ted Lindsay of the Detroit Red Wings and Doug Harvey of the Montreal Canadiens, after the league had refused to release pension plan financial information. The owners sabotaged the certification of the union by, in part, trading players involved with the association or sending them to the minor leagues. After an out-of-court settlement over several players' issues, the players disbanded the organization. Lindsay's struggle and the NHL's union busting efforts are dramatized in the movie, Net Worth.
The association formed in June 1967, when representatives of the six NHL teams met and elected Bob Pulford their first president and appointed Alan Eagleson as its executive director.
To prevent the new NHLPA from suffering the fate of its predecessor, Pulford met with the owners of the NHL teams and demanded they recognize the new union or the union would seek official recognition from Canadian Labour Relations Board. Additionally, the players sought guarantees that no member of the new union would be punished for being a member. The owners acceded. In return, the NHLPA agreed that it should represent at least two-thirds of the active players in the NHL and that the players would refrain from striking for the duration of the agreement, so long as the owners did not contravene any terms or conditions.
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