Baseball: Strike averted as owners agree to demands: Major League players decide against action over salary arbitration rules
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Your support makes all the difference.CLUB owners yesterday gave players a written promise that they will not lock them out next year or change salary arbitration this winter, the two promises the union said were necessary to stop consideration of a strike next month.
In a letter sent to Donald Fehr, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players' Association, the management negotiator, Richard Ravitch, formalised the announcements he made last Thursday after about 30 hours of owners' meetings over two days. 'We do not want any artificial deadlines to disrupt the bargaining process,' Ravitch wrote. 'Therefore, as long as the MLBPA does not strike, the clubs will not unilaterally implement a player compensation system that would interfere with or alter the 1993-94 free agent and salary arbitration contract signing season. Further, the clubs will not lock out the players during the 1994 season.'
Players were considering a strike because they feared owners would declare a bargaining impasse after the four-year collective-bargaining agreement expires on 31 December. Under federal labour law, the declaration of an impasse would allow owners the opportunity to impose new work rules.
'This commitment should provide the parties with ample time to negotiate a new basic agreement without the need for a destructive work stoppage,' Ravitch wrote.
'By removing the possibility that economic action might threaten the 1993-94 free agent salary arbitration contract signing season, I hope that the clubs have convinced the MLBPA of our strong desire to reach a negotiated solution to the difficult issues confronting the game.'
Eugene Orza, the associate general council of the players' association, said the union was not yet in a position to react to the letter. 'We want to talk to the players about the impact of it,' Orza said.
Baseball has been stopped by four strikes and three lockouts since 1972.
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