NBA Players to Vote on Union : Pro basketball: A secret ballot on decertification is ordered by the labor board.

Acknowledging the strength of the NBA players’ revolt against their union, the National Labor Relations Board ordered them to vote on decertification.

The decision, announced Wednesday in New York, had been expected. The insurgents had big-name players out front, led by Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing. More to the point, they say they submitted petitions signed by 200 players--more than 60% of those on rosters at the end of the season--renouncing the National Basketball Players Assn. as their bargaining agent.

However, NLRB regional director Daniel Silverman ruled that the election, in late August or early September, would be by secret ballot at NLRB regional offices. The insurgent agents and players had asked that players vote by mail. League officials and union leaders had argued that a mail-in vote could be controlled by the agents.

“We’re pleased [Silverman] has taken the appropriate steps to ensure that the players will be able to make a free and informed choice without the interference of third parties,” said Russ Granik, NBA deputy commissioner.

“We will now set about the task of getting accurate information to our players so that they can make a properly informed choice.”

The NBA has declared a lockout, severing all contact with players so that teams could not sponsor summer league entries and Laker minority owner Magic Johnson could not stage his annual summer charity game at the Forum. Instead, Sunday’s game will be at The Pond of Anaheim and with no formal mention of Johnson’s name.

With no clear bargaining agent for the players, negotiations with the league are stuck.

Union leaders--lame ducks until after an election, dead ducks if they lose it--met with Commissioner David Stern in New York on Tuesday, but their attempt to rework the previously agreed-to luxury tax, which the insurgents have made a rallying cry, went nowhere.

Simon Gourdine, the union’s executive director, said he had a “clear mandate” from the players to renegotiate the tax issue.

Granik said the league was willing to make “some further concessions to the players” but not on that issue.

Buck Williams, president of the players’ association, and Charles Smith, both of whom had been in previous negotiating sessions, were joined for this meeting by fellow players Dikembe Mutombo, Mark West, LaPhonso Ellis, Doug Overton, Tyrone Corbin, John Crotty, Vern Fleming, John Salley, Danny Ferry and Mark Price as the union tried to shore up its standing among the members.

Meanwhile, the opposition held an informational meeting in Washington on Wednesday, with another one scheduled in Los Angeles today.