Sportslaw Jargon: Impasse

Impasse is a concept which applies to labor negotiations. It occurs when the parties negotiating a collective bargaining agreement exhaust the prospects of concluding an agreement and honestly determine that further discussions would be futile. In applying the standard, courts and the National Labor Relations Board look at factors such as the number of meetings between the parties, the length of those meetings, the importance of the issues discussed, and the period of time that has passed between the start and the breaking off of negotiations.

When impasse occurs, either party can flex its economic muscles. In the case of a union, that could be a strike (for a definition of strike, click here). For management, it can be a unilateral imposition of new terms and conditions. Impasse is almost always broken, eventually, by either a change of mind or the application of such economic force.

In many instances, both sides continue to implement the terms of the recently expired agreement. But most notably in baseball, that may not happen.

The legitimacy of an impasse was a key issue during the period following the 1994 baseball strike. After months of negotiating, the owners decided to declare an impasse, break off negotiations and then take the risky move of imposing terms on the players (which included a salary cap, restricted free agency and no arbitration). Unfair Labor Practice charges were filed and a federal judge in New York granted the players union's motion for an injunction to prevent the imposition of the new terms.

The court concluded that an impasse was not reached and the baseball owners had no right to stop the process and impose their terms. In fact, some progress was made during the prior negotiating period. And once that injunction was granted forbidden the owners from imposing terms, the provisions of the expired agreement remained in effect. Since that is what the players wanted in the first place, they voted to return to work for the 1995 season. It would take another 10 months for the parties to conclude a new collective bargaining agreement.