Italian Football Association president Giancarlo Abate says he will arrange preliminary talks between the Serie A league and the Italian Players' Association (AIC) in a bid to avert a proposed strike.
The two sides are deadlocked over a collective bargaining agreement that has twice led to the AIC calling for strike action in Serie A.
''Tomorrow we will formalize the proposal for a political meeting between the presidents of the League and of the AIC to see if the conditions needed to return to the negotiating table are in place,'' Abete said.
The AIC refused to meet Serie A officials despite being summoned to a meeting by Abete last week, and also boycotted talks on Tuesday with the league and the FA.
''We expressed to president Abete our desire to find an accord, but we are perplexed with how the situation has developed,'' vice president of AIC Leo Grosso said. ''As it stands, as far as we can see it is the League that isn't interested in finding a solution.''
If the talks break down completely, Abete warned that the FA would use an independent body to intervene directly in the drawing up of the bargaining agreement ''in the next 10 or 12 days.''
Serie A president Maurizio Beretta said the league ''expressed dismay at the behavior of AIC,'' but added that it is ''willing to meet around a table again tonight.''
The two parties reached an agreement last month to avoid a strike declared for Sept. 24-25, but the players' association warned that if a new contract was not settled by Nov. 30, the strike would go ahead.
