Major League Baseball contract negotiations continue as the deadline nears; What is going on behind the curtain and is disaster on the horizon?
As the expiration date on the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the MLB and the MLB Players’ Association draws near, only a few people are privileged to what is actually taking place inside the room and around the table.
However, there’s a lot to glean about the situation, from what little is known about the ongoing negotiations with less than 48-hours before the deadline as well as from the standard manner in which labor negotiations are handled.
Contract negotiations are a long process in any avenue. While baseball fans’ interest is piqued now due to recent coverage of talks and the looming deadline, the two sides have likely been at this for a while now, said Ethan Frank-Collins, a labor relations expert who has represented multiple organizations in contract negotiations throughout his career. Frank-Collins is not participating in the MLB negotiations.
“In labor negotiations, typically the process starts several months in advance of the actual deadline. And both parties will have developed their own list of proposals – things that are important for them to achieve during the negotiations,” he said, noting that multiple meetings have likely taken place between both parties by the time the contract deadline nears. “There’s typically been some give and take in the process and both sides would want to come to an agreement on the items on which they had the most common ground to resolve issues.”
These early discussions set the tone for the overall negotiations and lay the groundwork for the bigger issues, which are typically visited and revisited a few times.
“One would expect that at this point in the process there would only be one or two key issues that are separating the sides and that both sides are looking to work through in hopes of reaching an agreement,” he said.
News reports indicate that if MLB and the MLBPA do not reach a new agreement by the time the previous one expires at midnight on December 1, there will be a lockout. First let’s get the terms right – a lockout is an action taken by management – in this case MLB – to prevent players from reporting to work. A strike, which has not been much discussed at this juncture – is an action taken by members of the union – in this case the MLBPA – to refuse to report to work.
How effective would a lockout be if pitchers and catchers don’t report until mid-February?
“If there’s no work expected at this time, then a lock-out could be a largely symbolic gesture,” said Frank-Collins, a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (the same college from which MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred received his undergraduate degree in 1980). However, fan events that players are expected to attend, like PirateFest for example, could be impacted. “I don’t know what kind of appearances and commitments players are bound to fulfill contractually, but if a lock-out is on, I would say they wouldn’t be moving forward with events like that.”
And that is just the beginning of the impact any type of work stoppage could have on major league baseball.
Industry sources report to Pirates Breakdown that the lingering CBA negotiations are having a more significant effect on off-season signings and trades than is being reported.
“We don’t have exact operating rules to go by,” one such source told PBD. “Until it is resolved, I expect things to continue to move slowly.”
Fans Aren’t Fans
Beyond setting up teams for the 2017 season, both sides have to be aware of how labor strife looks to fans.
“When professional sports leagues reach work stoppage, it’s very damaging for their reputation,” Frank-Collins said. “Fans are watching and are thinking about their jobs and their wages. They’re thinking about how expensive tickets are and how much beer and hot dogs cost and all of the things they spend money on at the ball park. And what they see is high dollar owners and players arguing about how to split up a big slice of pie.”
And in the end, that hurts everyone.
“Every time there’s a work stoppage in baseball, fans leave and sometimes it takes a long time for those fans to return – and sometimes they never return,” he said. “Fans just want to see it get resolved. Sometimes they blame the players and say they’re being spoiled. Sometimes fans will look at the owners and say the owners aren’t being fair. But ultimately what the fans want is to see baseball and the longer a work stoppage drags on, the longer it damages fan feelings.”
He has reason to believe, however, that a work stoppage isn’t on the horizon for major league baseball.
“I can’t see any big issues that should be keeping the sides apart. There was the issue of the international draft and it looks like that’s largely off the table, the other sticking point was about compensatory picks, unrestricted free agency and luxury taxes and none of those things seem like big enough items to be keeping the sides apart,” he said. “But, sometimes egos get involved and people don’t always reach the right rational conclusion. So, while I can’t see anything that should stop an agreement from being reached, both sides actually negotiating the contract have to come together and realize that too.”
Will it be a nail biter right until the very end?
Frank-Collins predicts so.
“Both sides that are negotiating are representing the interests of others. They are selected representatives negotiating for their constituent groups, and each of those groups have something that they are looking to achieve. So, both parties at the bargaining table will want to demonstrate that they pushed hard to reach their goals,” he said, noting that hard fought contracts are rarely settled with a lot of time to spare. “Nobody wants to go back to the group they represent and say that they got less of a deal than they were hoping for. That means both sides want to show that they are working hard to get the right outcome for their interests and that they’re willing to push right up to the deadline to get it.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: In the interest of full disclosure, Ethan Frank-Collins, who was quoted extensively for this story, is the husband of Joy Frank-Collins, who wrote this article.
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