With the National Football League on course for a shutdown over labor issues next year, the league's union, the Players Association, is deepening its ties to the AFL-CIO. NFL players are already AFL-CIO members, but now players will fully affiliate with the local chapters in their respective states.

At the Patriots players meeting Thursday, NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith is scheduled to make a formal announcement regarding the changes.

In a memo to local chapters, AFL president Richard Trumka writes that "the NFLPA is a unique organization in many respects, certain because of the high-profile nature of their work and members, but also in that it is one national union without local unions or chapters."

Under the new system, players' dues will be sent back to state labor councils.

The move appears to lay the groundwork for broader labor organizing around a possible lockout, the first stoppage since 1987, which would affect thousands of stadium workers as well as the players.