Minor league baseball players could finally organize to improve their wages and living conditions.
After a week and a half of waiting for union permit cards to be returned, the MLB Players Association says more than half of those cards have been filed.
With majority support, the MLBPA is asking the league and its 30 teams to earlier recognize them as bargaining agents for minor leagues, it said the athlete.
That report also states that any contract negotiated with Major League Baseball would be separate from the CBA between the league and the majors’ players.
Minor league players make some of the lowest wages in professional sports at just $400 a week
MLBPA officials began distributing authorization cards to MiLB players on August 28.
While the average salary in the major leagues tops $4 million, players on contracts in the minor leagues only make $400 a week during the six-month season.
“This is my eighth year,” said Andres Angulo, system catcher of 25-year-old Orioles.
“Last year I walked out with $500 in my pocket. And I don’t think I want that in my life.
“But I’m still in baseball just because I have dreams of making it into the big leagues. But I don’t think that’s fair for us.
MLB Players Association chairman Tony Clark will invite minor leagues into their union
Those who used to play in the majors say this change bodes well for the future of the minor league system.
“I’m not surprised that so many people have signed, especially speaking to the people I’ve spoken to,” said former MLB pitcher Trevor Hildenberger, who is currently a minor league player in the San Francisco Giants system.
“Excited is a good word. But I’m not surprised. I have full confidence in the fact that this is an inevitable reality, that the minor leagues will be in the union and we will collectively negotiate with MLB for better working conditions. I have no doubt that we will achieve our goal.”
After years of resistance to bringing the MiLB under its umbrella, the MLBPA made the decision to endorse it nearly two weeks ago.
“The working conditions these players are subjected to have been downright offensive,” union boss Tony Clark wrote in a letter to players’ agents on Sunday.
An example of a union representation card distributed to minor league players
“Poverty wages, oppressive reserve rules, discipline without due process, ever-growing off-season commitments, appropriation of intellectual property, below-average attention to player health and safety, and a chronic lack of respect for minor leagues as a whole (to name a few) – these cancers in our game exist because minor league players have never had a seat at the negotiating table. It is about time that changed.”
The union executive unanimously approved the minor league initiative on August 26.
The staff of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, which formed two years ago, recently resigned and will work for the MLBPA as part of their staff. The union gave the minor-league group $50,000 last November.
“This generation of minor league players has demonstrated an unparalleled ability to address workplace issues with a collective voice,” Harry Marino, chief executive of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, said in a statement.
“Joining the most powerful union in professional sport ensures that voice is heard where it matters most – at the negotiating table.”
Players in the minors with signed major league contracts, of which there are around 1,200, are represented by the union, which since the 1981 strike settlement has also negotiated terms for those standing for option for the minor leagues.
MLB increased weekly minimum wages for minor leagues in 2021 to $400 at rookie and short-season levels, $500 at Class A, $600 at Double-A, and $700 at Triple-A. For optional players, the minimum is $57,200 per season for a first big league contract and $114,100 for later big league contracts.
MLB increased weekly minimum wages for minor leagues in 2021 to $400 at rookie and short-season levels, $500 at Class A, $600 at Double-A, and $700 at Triple-A. For optional players, the minimum is $57,200 per season for a first big league contract and $114,100 for later big league contracts.
If MiLB players choose to unionize, they could be limited in future lawsuits against MLB
In 2021, Minor Leaguers gained sympathy after sharing pictures of dinners being served to them
Additionally, this year MLB began requiring teams to provide housing to most minor leagues.
Goaded by the Minor League Advocacy Group, Senate Judiciary Committee chairmen said last month they had scheduled a hearing on the esports exemption.
Union formation could limit the opportunities for minor leagues in future court cases. In 1996, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Pro Football Inc. that unionized industries were exempt from antitrust challenges.
The Big League Union had long declined to represent minor leagues, although their contract of employment sets out terms of amateur draft and signing bonuses for amateur players. That year there were 128 draft picks who agreed to sign bonuses of $500,000 and up, including 82 for at least $1 million.
The Players’ Association negotiated its first collective agreement in 1966 and has seen nine work stoppages, most recently a 99-day lockout that delayed the start of this season.
Major League Baseball and minor league attorneys this year settled a $185 million settlement in an eight-year-old federal lawsuit alleging violations of minimum wage laws. An early estimate says maybe 23,000 players could split about $120 million with an average payment of $5,000 to $5,500, and their attorneys will split $55.5 million.
US Chief Justice Joseph C. Spero in San Francisco granted preliminary approval to the settlement and scheduled a fairness hearing for February 17 before a possible final approval.
In viral video, members of the St. Louis Cardinals Double-A affiliate in Springfield, Missouri, were seen sleeping on the floor and in rows of chairs in a hotel conference room
