re: LHSAA basketball officials have voted for an immediate work stoppage

quote:

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Being a basketball ref isn't a year round job. It's a seasonal profession, in which the season has already started. If you agreed to start the season at a certain pay rate then you finish the season. I would have zero problems with them not starting next season if they didn't get the pay raise they felt they deserved.

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The obstacle there is that the principals meet and vote this time of year.

If the officials said, "We'll finish this year but we're not working next year until we get what we deserve," then the basketball season would roll around, and the principals would blame the officials for walking out on them three months before their next vote.

Either way, the officials are going to look bad to those who follow the issue casually.

The officials have a better chance at getting what they demand by striking now rather than in November, so obviously walking out now is the best choice for them, no matter what our opinions are.

And if the rest of the season isn't canceled here, and if we lose say, a week, I don't think that's the end of the world; we'll all get over it by season's end.

If they walk out now, the season will probably resume before the playoffs start in a couple weeks (just my guess, but I strongly suspect this).
If they walk out in November, basketball likely doesn't resume until this time next year, screwing almost the whole season.

Trust me--if they had waited until next season to strike, we'd all be saying, "Couldn't you have done that back in January when we could have really done something about it?"