The Major League Baseball Players Association on Friday rejected MLB’s request for federal mediation in negotiation between the parties for a new collective bargaining agreement.
“Two months after implementing their lockout, and just two days after committing to players that a counterproposal would be made, the owners refused to make a counter, and instead requested mediation,” the MLBPA said in a statement. “After consultation with our Executive Board, and taking into account a variety of factors, we have declined this request.”
The move pretty much eliminates any chance for an on-time start to spring training. Some in the industry, on both the league and player sides, fear that the March 31 opening day could be at risk if no resolution is reached by the end of February.
The league believes it committed to responding to the MLBPA but not necessarily to making a counterproposal, sources familiar with the talks told ESPN. In an effort to help resolve the sport’s lockout, Major League Baseball on Thursday requested the assistance of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a governmental agency that attempts to help resolve labor disputes, sources told ESPN.
The request was made to potentially insert the presence of a neutral party to end a work stoppage now in its third month. Mediation is not mandatory, and the MLBPA needed to agree to the involvement of a third party.
“We don’t think it speeds up the process at all,” MLBPA executive board member Andrew Miller said via text. “History tells us in our sport, it hasn’t been favorable to reaching a deal. … Our position is that it is quite the opposite from negotiating and being ready to negotiate.”
MLB locked out players on Dec. 2 after the sides could not reach an agreement on a new CBA. Since then, the sides have met four times. None of the sessions has provided significant traction toward a new CBA after more than a quarter-century of labor peace.
Mediation, a process by which an outside party intervenes during labor strife, has been commonplace throughout the history of sports labor relations. The role of mediators is more to bridge communication issues between sides and help find middle ground than offer mandates or implement solutions. The process was used during MLBPA strikes in 1981 and 1994 — the latter of which did not wind up with a resolution.
The issues at hand mostly revolve around the game’s core economics. The players, disgruntled because their average salaries have dropped four consecutive seasons, have said their largest priorities are getting players paid at earlier ages, removing artificial restraints from the market such as draft-pick penalties for signing free agents and draft-pick penalties for exceeding the luxury tax, fixing service-time manipulation and disincentivizing tanking. The league, which wants to keep player salaries flat, has sought expanded playoffs and the preservation of current rules governing free agency, arbitration and revenue sharing.
There have been areas of progress. The league agreed to remove direct draft-pick compensation and offered a universal designated hitter. The union said it would expand the postseason to 12 teams, short of the 14 MLB is seeking, and proposed allowing advertising patches on uniforms. Both sides are open to a draft lottery, with MLB proposing non-playoff teams be eligible for the top three picks while the union countered with the top eight picks being part of the system. MLB agreed to consider a bonus pool for non-arbitration-eligible players that would be for $10 million. The union, in its last proposal Tuesday, countered at $100 million, down $5 million from its previous offer.
“The clearest path to a fair and timely agreement is to get back to the table,” the MLBPA said in its statement Friday. “Players stand ready to negotiate.”
ESPN’s Jeff Passan contributed to this report.
