NHL Use of Mediation

During the Thanksgiving holiday, it was reported that mediation was used as a means of conflict resolution between the league officials and players. Mediation was further used as a tool to bring the parties together in order to assist with the establishment of a mutual agreement between the disputing parties. The success of the mediation process for this issue was primarily to avoid another cancelled season of the NHL. Although the parties are still in dispute, and an impasse was declared, mediation will be continued to be used as a tool to settle this case. Further, a good mediator will not enforce parties to make a decision. Rather a mediator's role is to provide the parties to feel a sense of empowerment in order to make a sound decision that will benefit each party. Mediation has become a popular and cost effective tool to help with conflict resolution.

Group WhyNot offers mediation services. Contact us today for further information at groupwhynot@gmail.com. We offer free consultation services.

For more information on the NHL Lockout please see the article below presented by CNN.

NHL: Mediation with players ends with no deal

By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 7:56 PM EST, Thu November 29, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NHL, players' union end two days of talks with mediators
• Mediators determined no progress possible through mediation at the moment, NHL says
• Labor impasse has canceled a third of the NHL's season so far
• The season should have started October 11

(CNN) -- Two days of mediation have failed to end the National Hockey League's lockout of its players, the league and the players' union said Thursday.

Representatives of the NHL and the NHL Players' Association met Wednesday and Thursday with the Washington-based Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, aiming to break a labor impasse that so far has canceled a third of the NHL's season.

The mediators "concluded that the parties remained far apart, and that no progress toward a resolution could be made through further mediation at this point in time," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said.

"We are disappointed that the mediation process was not successful," Daly said in a statement issued to the media Thursday afternoon.

The mediators "indicated that they would stay in contact with the league and the NHLPA, and would call the parties back together when they thought the time was right," the union's executive director, Don Fehr, said Thursday.

The league and the NHL Players' Association have not been able to reach a collective bargaining agreement, prompting a lockout that threatens to wipe out an entire NHL season for the second time in eight years.

The season did not begin as scheduled on October 11, and the league has canceled groups of games as the calendar progressed with no deal. Last week, the league said that the All-Star game and the regular season through December 14 had been called off.