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General Civil Mediator Training
April 19-21 and May 3 & 4, 2012 9am - 6pm
Ralp A. MacMullen Conference Center in Roscommon
Click here for more information
NFL Mediation Update
The NFL Lockout Began March 11, But An End Appears Near
With the NFL closing in on a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA), owners and players will return to the negotiating table in a mediation setting on Monday, July 18 and Tuesday, July 19 to settle a handful of unresolved issues, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
According to sources, the sides will meet in either New York or Washington D.C., and U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan could join them on either day.
Before departing for an overseas vacation on July 9, Boylan ordered a mediation session in Minneapolis on Tuesday. It had appeared that the mediation session would be cancelled after the progress made in New York on Thursday and Friday, but sources say the hope is that mediation will nudge the two sides to a final agreement in time for the players to vote to recertify as a union and approve an agreement Wednesday.
Under that scenario, the owners would ratify the new CBA on Thursday, July 21 at the league meetings in Atlanta. According to sources, the two sides also could use Wednesday morning to finish their mediated negotiation session, if necessary.
The outstanding unresolved issues, according to sources:
• Players want restoration of $320 million in lost benefits from the 2010 uncapped season.
• Players want to limit use of the franchise tag on unrestricted free agents to a one-time application. Previously, teams could use the franchise tag on a player on three separate occasions with significant increases on one-year guaranteed salaries for every additional year that the player was tagged.
• Workman's compensation. It has been an underpublicized and complex issue for the owners that has resulted in numerous lawsuits. Owners want players to file for workman's comp benefits in the state in which they played, if they suffered an injury. Currently, players have used California as a filing base if they can prove they suffered any injury during their career while playing in that state.
• Settlement of the television damages case stemming from U.S. District Judge David Doty's ruling that owners did not act in the best interests of players as directed by the previous CBA in creating "lockout insurance." The players have asked Doty to place $4 billion in escrow until the lockout is resolved but Doty has not ruled. It is possible the players will use this leverage to gain the $320 million in restoration of lost benefits from 2010.
Under a ratified agreement, teams would have an exclusive 72-hour window to negotiate contracts with their own free agents Friday before those players hit the open market at the start of league-wide free agency on July 25th.One key concession made by the owners will effectively eliminate two-a-day practices during training camp as a health and safety issue that players termed critical to an agreement, the sources said. Teams will be allowed to have some helmetless and padless non-contact walk-through practices in lieu of a second training camp practice on the same day.
According to sources, teams will also reduce offseason workouts from 14 on-field organized team activities (practices) to nine. Six of those nine practices must be helmetless. Players also will not be subject to reporting for offseason work with coaches until May 1, although one source said that date could be in mid-April. Previously, players could work with coaches beginning in March. March 15 was the designated date in 2011 before the lockout went into effect March 13.
Under the proposed 10-year CBA, players would get a split ranging from 48 to 46.5 percent of a simplified all-revenue model, the sources said. The lower 46.5 percentage would represent an increase in total dollars as revenues grow from new television contracts, as well as allowing credits if three new stadiums are constructed, including one in Los Angeles, where the NFL has not had a team since the 1994 season.
Talks had stalled last week before, according to sources, the sides reached agreement on both a rookie wage system and salary cap on Thursday and free agency rules for 2011 on Friday.
Baltimore Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth, a key member of the players' side in the talks, commented on the lengthy negotiations on his Twitter account Saturday night.
Foxworth wrote: "What a long busy week. I'm so tired. I need my daughter to take a nap so I can."
-- Chris Mortensen Senior NFL Analyst for ESPN.
Community Mediation Services hires Annette Wells as Executive Director
Former Girl Scouts Manager
to Lead Mediation Center
Annette Wells
Community Mediation Services (CMS) announces the hiring of Annette Wells as Executive Director.
CMS provides mediation and dispute resolution services through court systems and directly to residents in Alcona, Alpena, Cheboygan, Crawford, Iosco, Kalkaska, Montmorency, Oscoda, Otsego and Presque Isle counties. The organization is a non-profit 501©(3) based in Gaylord.
Before joining CMS, Ms. Wells served the Girl Scouts of Mitten Bay for 11 years most recently as Membership Manager responsible for designing and implementing strategies recruitment and retention of girls and adult members throughout eight counties in northern Michigan.
Since 2004, Wells has served CMS as a volunteer mediator. She has advanced training in several specialized areas of mediation including Child Protection, Domestic Relations, Parenting Time, Access and Visitation.
She follows former Executive Director Grant Bliss who retired in January after heading CMS for more than 16 years.
“We’re very pleased to welcome Annette into the Community Mediation Services family as our new Executive Director,” said Board President Paul Sabourin. “She possesses the skills, experience, training, creativity and enthusiasm needed to lead our volunteer-based organization.”
Wells will be responsible for overall day-to-day center administration and operations including financial management, volunteer recruitment and training, community outreach, public awareness and court relations, fundraising, grant writing, and promotional activities.
“Annette will also serve as an ambassador for CMS,” Sabourin added. “As the face of our organization she will help increase overall awareness of our mediation center’s mission and services, and enhance communications with court personnel, general public, and media representatives via one-on-one interviews and public speaking opportunities.”
Wells is familiar with many area social service organizations and actively participates in numerous non-profit group activities. “I immensely enjoy being part of this northern Michigan community and especially enjoy working with United Way kickoff campaigns and helping other volunteer organizations,” she said. “I’m excited about the opportunity to work with our experienced staff and volunteer mediators and the board of directors, and I welcome the challenges ahead, too.”
Wells lives in Johannesburg, Michigan with husband, Ray, daughter, Allison, age 14, and son, Dale, 12.
Community Mediation Services offers an affordable and effective alternative to litigation to help people resolve their differences. A wide variety of matters can be successfully resolved through mediation. CMS typically handles cases including consumer/merchant disputes, business and contract disputes, real estate issues, neighborhood and property owners association issues, landlord/tenant disputes, small claims, pre- and post-divorce property settlements, guardianship issues, victim/offender, and more.
The CMS offices are located in the United Way Building, 116 Fifth Street in Gaylord. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For additional information please phone 1-989-732-1576, or email communitymediationservices@frontier.com.
Television and Pro Football Turn to Mediation
”What can be done to increase public awareness and understanding of the mediation process and it’s benefits?”
The challenge and the question frequently asked by mediation center directors, board members and volunteer mediators, recently received an unexpected yet welcomed boost from two unlikely sources: The USA Network and the National Football League.
In January, The USA Network introduced an original cable series, Fairly Legal. The show follows a “recovering attorney who, frustrated with the rigidity of the legal system, quit practicing law to pursue justice from a different angle… turns away from the bureaucracy and injustice in the legal system to become a neutral, a mediator,” according to the promotion department’s synopsis.
While the series accurately depicts mediation as an effective alternative to litigation for helping people resolve their differences, the producers take significant creative liberties with the familiar model, “neutral co-mediators facilitate confidential discussion in a secure setting,” commonly practiced through conflict resolution centers.
Example: In the premier episode, the young, dynamic, beautiful, intelligent, witty, brassy, star steps into the middle of a convenience store robbery. Within minutes, the heroine helps craft a verbal agreement in which the armed perpetrator accepts fifty dollars worth of beef jerky and beer and walks away without causing further harm!
The far-fetched storyline, a long stretch from reality, probably held the 18-44 year-olds target audience far longer than a typical barking dog, property line, or credit card case would have.
It’s all done in the name of entertainment … and ratings!
Fairly Legal airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on The Dish Network’s USA Network. Check with your local cable or satellite television provider for dates and times.
After months of negotiations between NFL team owners and the players’ union failed to produce a new collective bargaining agreement both sides agreed to try to resolve their differences through mediation.
The biggest issue separating the sides is how to divide some $9 billion in annual revenues.
Recently, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association union head DeMaurice Smith agreed to jump-start their contentious and slow moving bargaining two weeks before owners could lock out players and threaten the 2011 season.
The National Football League, replete with billionaire owners and millionaire players, turned to George Cohen, the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a U.S. government agency.
After holding separate discussions with representatives from the league and the union, Cohen said both sides accepted an invitation from his agency to get involved in the stalled negotiations.
Cohen can make suggestions and recommendations, but he has no authority to impose settlements. Coming to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement still will be up to the two parties.
"Our agency director will be working with the parties to assist them in reaching a voluntary, mutually acceptable agreement," FMCS public affairs director John Arnold said.
"Any time that both sides of negotiations can get together, whether through conventional means of bargaining or mediation, to come to an agreement that can benefit all parties, it is a good thing," said NFLPA president Kevin Mawae.
The mediation sessions are frequently the lead stories on ESPN’s Sports Center news programs, talk radio shows, and on front pages of newspapers across the USA.
ESPN’s NFL analyst Chris Mortensen carefully explained the mediation process as if reading from a script. “The mediator has no power to impose terms of an agreement. He is there to facilitate conversation and communication between the parties. Both sides will be treated with respect, each will be allowed to speak uninterrupted, and above all, what is said during the mediation sessions will remain strictly confidential throughout the process. Even the mediators notes will be destroyed after each session!” he noted.
An old saw regarding mediation: “It almost always works when both parties want it to, and never works if one party doesn’t” will be put to the test.
Deadline for agreement is March 3, 2011, unless, of course, both parties agree to extend the deadline and continue to mediate in good faith towards a mutually acceptable agreement.
NFL Mediation UpdateAlmost two weeks of daily mediation sessions between representatives from the NFL players union and team owners has generated progress on several key issues.
Federal Mediator George H. Cohen recommended and the parties agreed to continue to mediate daily through March 11.
Cohen reported that the mediation process succeeded in establishing an atmosphere conducive to highly focused constructive dialogue and meaningful negotiations. The face-to-face discussions reflected a noteworthy level of mutual respect even while parties defended strongly held competing positions. “Some progress was made,” he said, “but very strong differences remain.”
Cohen requested that all parties refrain from any public comment while the mediation process continues.
When releasing his statement Cohen said, “I have shared the terms of this release with the parties, and they have authorized me to represent that it accurately reflects the course of the mediation to date.”
Mediators help take a bite out of dog disputes - from USA Today, March 16, 2009
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