Читать реферат по английскому: "1994 Baseball Strike Essay Research Paper On" Страница 3

(Назад) (Cкачать работу)

Meanwhile, attention had shifted to other avenues of breaking in the deadlock. Ravitch resigned as negotiator. The owners indicated that they would use replacement players if the strike was not resolved by the start of the 1995 season. Baltimore owner Peter Angelos shocked everyone by announcing that he would not use replacement players. Also complicating the owners? resolution was a law in Ontario that prevented employers such as the Toronto club from using replacement workers. Like Angelos, Detroit manager Sparky Anderson stated that he would not work with the replacement players.

Frustrated by Usery?s ineffective mediation, President Clinton tried to turn up the heat by calling the negotiators to the White House and indicating that if a settlement was not reached by February 7, 1995, he would ask Usery to make his own recommendations for the settlement. Such recommendations would not be binding, but the President implied that they would be sent to Congress for legislative action or used as a basis for arbitration (Layden 58).

Congress, however, was not receptive to the idea of a legislative settlement. House Speaker Newt Gingrich stated, ?I?m not sure Congress is the right place to try to organize the national pastime.? Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole said, ?We?re very reluctant to get involved.? Thus, Usery?s proposed settlement and the President?s bill got nowhere. Neither did the idea of arbitration, because the parties would not mutually agree to allow an arbitrator to decide their fate in such an elaborate and complex matter (Atlantic Unbound).

A more likely possibility was the reversal of baseball?s exemption from the antitrust laws. Although this would not necessarily end the strike, it would pressure the owners to make compromises our of fear of antitrust litigation. A bill was proposed that would allow players to sue the owners if they unilaterally implemented work rules, but it would not have affected other aspects of of the antitrust exemption. But once again, Congress rejected the bill.

The strike ended as a result of Government action, but not by the President or Congress. As noted earlier, at the end of 1994 the owners imposed a salary cap, reasoning that an impasse had been reached in the negotiations. This prompted the union to file unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB, accusing the owners of failure to negotiate in good faith and imposing the cap without a genuine impasse. Although the owners had reopened negotiations in December 1992, they did not make an offer until 18 months later. Furthermore, the proposed offer made radical changes in the agreement. Then, after the owners made little change in their position, an impasse was declared. In light of these facts, the owners were vulnerable to charges of violation of labor law (Monthly Labor Review).

On March 26, 1995 the NLRB voted 3-2 to seek a court ruling forcing the owners to reinstate the provisions of the old collective bargaining agreement. Earlier, the Board had issued a complaint to the effect that the owners violated the National Labor Relations Act by implementing their proposal when no legal impasse existed. At the time, the owners might have imposed a lockout, but it is unlikely that they could have gotten the three-fourths vote needed to do so. Although technically the NLRB had only issued a complaint against the owners, and there was no specific ruling on the merits of the unfair labor practice charges, which could take considerable time, the board?s decision to seek an injunction pushed the matter to the court for speedy action. Wisely, Fehr indicated that the players would end the strike under cover of such an injunction. On March 31, U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor ruled in favor of the players and issued an injunction against the owners. Judge Sotomayor ordered management to restore free agent bidding, salary arbitration, and the anti-collusion provisions of the expired collective bargaining agreement. As far as the players were concerned, the strike ended after this ruling (Layden 63).

The resumption of play by real big leaguers proved, once again, the old saying that ?all strikes must end.? Nothing was settled by the strike, because the old contract provisions continued to apply, which has to make the strike one of the most eventful, but unproductive, ever. At the end of the strike, the owners announced losses of $700 million and then added another $300 million in losses resulting from a delay of the start of the 1995 season (Monthly Labor Review). Veteran players got some protection from the union strike fund, but they were really being paid back their own money, while other players got little or nothing. Average salaries dropped about 5 percent, from $1,168,263 in 1994 to $1,110,776 in 1995, as financially straightened clubs looked to the minor leagues for cheaper talent and many veterans were released or took sizable pay cuts (Atlantic Unbound).

Fans, or course, were disappointed with the cancellation of postseason play, as well as the loss of the chance to see whether or not records would be broken. Tony Gwynn had a batting average of .394, with a chance to be the first player since Ted Williams to hit .400 for the season. Ken Griffey, Jr., Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Albert Belle, and Barry Bonds all were on pace to hit fifty home runs. Never before had two players hit fifty or more home runs in a single season. There was also the case of Cal Ripken, Jr., who was on pace to break Lou Gehrig?s streak of playing 2,130 consecutive games. The divisional races were wide open, and the conclusion of the season would have been exciting. Angry fans sent a message of ?a plague on both your houses? in 1995 by means of a 20-percent drop in a attendance (Dolan 134).

By then end of 1996, some of the dark clouds lingering over the game had been swept away. Postseason play in 1995 sparked renewed interest in fans. The

Похожие работы