NFLPA Active Players Head to Hawaii

All retired players eagerly await the presentation that Mr.. Fugett and Mr. Bennett will give on behalf of 9100 retired players at this convention. Player rep Matt Stover  of the Baltimore Ravens indorsed the  addendum last March 2007 and it was passed,  that the Steering Committee President will be able to attend the active players reps’ meeting each year with another member of the steering committee and present to the active  players rep’s retired players issues..Steering Committee president,  was to canvas all 31 local Chapter presidents and get there in-put on what there members issues are in each chapter.  Presidents received that e-mail request for that  info on March 8th.  The union as you know has been monitoring the Baltimore Chapters  Blog and now our web-site for over four years we have no secrets on behalf of retired players. In fact all retired players have actively tried  to reach out to the union over issues that we all  face. Last time I heard the   other member of the steering committee  that was to attend on behalf of retired players  must be approved by the Executive Director of the NFLPA.. ( that may have changed?? ). Regards, Bruce Laird  The NFLPA active player reps are headed to Hawaii for their annual meeting, and the NFLPA has e-mailed chapter officers to ask what they would like Steering Committee President Jean Fugett to present to active player reps on behalf of retired players. In fact, Fourth & Goal has been talking about, writing about, speaking out about, publicizing, and advocating for what retired players need (improved pension and disability benefits) and what retired players want (representation) for years now.There are many examples of how retired players have tried to reach out to the NFLPA.  More than 18 months ago, Baltimore Ravens’ player rep Matt Stover asked the NFLPA’s Director of Retired Players, Andre Collins, to build a bridge between the union and retired players. At Matt’s request, Fourth & Goal President Bruce Laird spoke with Andre regarding how the two groups could work together to build that bridge.  Bruce sent Andre an outline of what we would like to discuss with the union, and followed up with several e-mail messages to Andre. There was no response – that is, until Bruce saw Andre at the Congressional hearings last June, and he told Bruce the union has “nothing to discuss with retired players…too many issues…”Even with these setbacks, progress is being made.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell formed a new alliance to begin to address long-ignored retired players’ issues. Disability issues began to be openly discussed, and steps began to be taken to fix the badly-broken disability system.   However, retired players have a long way to go – they are not considered to be union members, they have no vote and they have no representation. To learn more about retired NFL players’ concerns and struggles, please contact Jason Policastro at (410) 727-6855 or via email at jpolicastro@stantoncomm.com.  Thanks for your consideration.