MLB is prepared to voluntarily recognize the minor league players’ union

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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Minor leaguers have been sent out a voting card from the Major League Baseball Players Association to authorize the player's union as their collective bargaining representative, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark confirmed on Sunday night.

The move marks a monumental step for minor leaguers, who have been unable to collectively bargain for things such as their payment, housing and name, image and likeness.

Clark said that player's union is moving forward with a vote because they heard from enough minor leaguers about the desire for union representation.

"Over the course of the last few weeks and really over the course of the last couple years has been a buildup of players offering their voices and their concerns with Advocates for Minor Leaguers continuing to echo and aggregate those voices in a way that have gotten us to this point," Clark told ESPN.

In order for the MLBPA to represent minor leaguers in collective bargaining, 50 percent or more of players will need to vote that they want union representation. If more than 50 percent of minor leaguers choose for union representation, the National Labor Relations Board will require Major League Baseball to recognize the union. MLB and the MLBPA would then need to collectively bargain for minor leaguers.

According to Clark, the MLBPA moved forward with this vote to potentially represent the minor leagues after it was authorized by the player's union leadership. According to multiple league sources, every minor league team across America has player representatives who are distributing the voting cards to teammates to organize the vote. This logistical coordination was organized by Advocates for Minor Leaguers, who has three player outreach coordinators regularly speaking with minor leaguers.

On Tuesday, those working for Advocates for Minor Leaguers will resign their positions with the non-profit and become employees of the MLBPA to help organize their efforts to collectively bargain for minor leaguers.
More at the ESPN link below
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34479699/sources-minor-leaguers-vote-authorizing-mlbpa-union-representative
 

InstaFace

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Good for Tony Clark and the MLBPA (and, I presume, for Manfred et al to have not fucked anything up yet). Long overdue.

I'm a bit unsure about the resignations from the MiLB advocacy group, with the 3 people joining the MLBPA full-time. Is this just about them going from unpaid volunteer charity workers trying to raise awareness, to full-time paid employees? Curious whether their mission and work will remain the same.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
46,276
Good for Tony Clark and the MLBPA (and, I presume, for Manfred et al to have not fucked anything up yet). Long overdue.

I'm a bit unsure about the resignations from the MiLB advocacy group, with the 3 people joining the MLBPA full-time. Is this just about them going from unpaid volunteer charity workers trying to raise awareness, to full-time paid employees? Curious whether their mission and work will remain the same.
Pretty sure its going to stay the same, they have been working on behalf of MILB players for a while, so they are kind of like the point people (or point of contact) for questions and issues Milb players may have going forward
 

OCD SS

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So one detail I've been thinking about pertains to the possibility of an international draft, but I have no idea if it's valid:

During the lockout and new CBA negotiations there was some question of whether or not the MLBPA would have legal standing to block Manfred & the league from unilaterally instituting an international draft. Now anything that the sides negotiated on must presume some standing, but IIRC Drelich mentioned somewhere that he though an IFA draft would get done because the league really wants it and the standing question would put the players in a weaker position to fight it, so they'd take what they could get (and that's why they were only getting an end to arbitration, which is a pretty weak exchange).

The MLBPA representing MiLB players would have to instantly grant them standing in dealing with not only this, but anything else the league might want to unilaterally implement.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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Hopefully MLB does the right thing (like the NBA) and formally recognizes them
In just a week-and-a-half’s time, more than 50 percent of minor leaguers have returned signed union authorization cards, Major League Baseball Players Association officials told The Athletic. Now, with that majority’s support, the MLBPA has taken another significant step: it has asked MLB and the 30 teams to formally recognize the MLBPA as the minor leaguers’ collective bargaining representatives, Players Association officials said.

MLBPA deputy executive director Bruce Meyer made that request for voluntary recognition in a letter sent to deputy MLB commissioner Dan Halem on Tuesday morning. The Players Association sent over what’s known as a card-check agreement, where the league would agree to voluntary recognition, contingent on independent verification of the cards. From here, the next move might belong to commissioner Rob Manfred and the owners, who have yet to publicly comment on the fast-moving unionization effort. MLB did not immediately return a request for comment from The Athletic on Tuesday.

The MLBPA has long represented major league players. In news that took many in the industry by surprise, the Players Association sent out authorization cards to minor leaguers on Aug. 28. The next day, the MLBPA announced it was adding staff members from the non-profit Advocates for Minor Leaguers, a group that spearheaded the organizing process.
https://theathletic.com/3568822/2022/09/06/minor-league-union-mlb-mlbpa/