Thursday, 20 September 2018:
 | | TODD GREENBERG, Chief Executive Officer of the National Rugby League looks on after the NRL match between the Melbourne Storm and the Canberra Raiders at AAMI Park in Melbourne, Australia. | |
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NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg insists he isn't concerned by threats of industrial action from the referees union over pay and working conditions.
The Professional Rugby League Match Officials (PRLMO) will find out on Friday whether they will be approved to take action after a members' ballot was conducted this week.
It is believed referees could stop work between one and 24 hours, or initiate a temporary ban on work clothing provided by the governing body.
PRLMO chairman Silvio Del Vecchio was confident the vote would be in favour of action.
Eenterprise bargaining agreement negotiations have been ongoing for some months and there were fears the impasse would impact the NRL finals series.
Instead Del Vecchio said they would consider other avenues.
"Taking industrial action is not something we really want to do," Del Vecchio said on Macquarie Sports Radio Breakfast on Thursday.
"Even at this stage of the season, we were well within our rights to seek orders that would've included strikes during matches in the finals series.
"But instead we limited our own actions to prevent that from happening because of the respect of the game that the referees have.
"Unfortunately we do have some other actions in our industrial action claim.
"And certainly at this stage, if the NRL continue to dig their heels in, we'll be considering our options."
However, Greenberg is adamant the game's relationship with match officials remains strong.
"I'm not concerned. I'm sure the referees have great respect for the roles they play in the game and importance of the preliminary finals this weekend and the grand final," he said.
"I'm very confident we'll have an incident-free couple of weeks."
Del Vecchio said the two parties remain "significantly apart" on some of their major issues of concern, primarily over a lack of increase in wages relative to the recent broadcast deal.
The PRLMO are also fighting for a longer notice of termination, while they claim members are being forced to pay for their own surgeries and scans for injuries suffered on the job.
The development comes as the NRL spruiked a rise in national participation rates, led by a 29 per cent increase in female registration on 2017 figures.
For the first time in five years, there was a 5.5 per cent growth in NSWRL, however there remains a decline in rates among male participants in the 13-18 age bracket.
