The National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, is the labor union of players in football's National Football League. It was founded in 1956, but only achieved recognition and a collective bargaining agreement several years later. After a lost strike in 1987, the union was formally decertified, converting into a professional association in order to pursue antitrust litigation designed to win free agency for its members. When that tactic worked it reformed as a union and resumed collective bargaining with the league in 1993. The president is currently Troy Vincent, former player with the Philadelphia Eagles, and the executive director is Gene Upshaw, formerly of the Oakland Raiders.