The Labor Dispute: Questions & Answers
Questions and answers about the baseball strike:
Q: What are the issues still separating both sides?
A: Three. The first is the luxury tax. Owners want a 50 percent tax on the portions of payrolls above the average, which was $40.7 million last season according to management calculations. Players offered a 25 percent tax on the portions of payrolls above 133 percent of the average, which was $54.1 million according to management’s method of counting.
The second divisive issue is the reserve system. Owners want to eliminate salary arbitration and are proposing that players with four to six seasons of major-league service be made restricted free agents, with teams either able to match offers within 10 days or receive draft-pick compensation. Players with less than four seasons would be subject to unilateral salaries set by owners, with an escalating scale of minimums.
The third divisive issue is called the sunset provision. Players insist that any luxury tax be phased out by 1998, when the new expansion teams start play and will have paid $260 million to the current owners. Management is balking at a phase out.
Q: Is either side likely to cave in?
A: Neither is ready to give in or even compromise all that much.
Q: Is there any chance that the season will start on time April 2 with major-league players?
A: None at all.
Q: Is the start of the season likely to be delayed?
A: Only if there’s an agreement before April 2, which is unlikely, or if the National Labor Relations Board obtains an injunction restoring salary arbitration, free-agent bidding and anticollusion rules, and owners then don’t decide to lock out the striking players. The union says it will end the strike if an injunction is issued. It takes 21 votes for owners to start a lockout. If the season starts April 2, it will be with replacement players.
Q: What’s the difference between a strike and a lockout?
A: During a lockout, owners would have to lock out all members of the bargaining unit. But they may try to entice striking players to quit the union and return one by one. The union would claim that’s an unfair labor practice.
Q: Will the replacement games and statistics count?
A: Owners say they will. Players say they will insist as part of any settlement that the games will not count.
Q: What will happen with the Baltimore Orioles?
A: It appears likely that the American League will order the Orioles to forfeit their games if they continue to refuse to field a replacement team. Even if that happens, it would take 22 losses for the team to break its franchise record for worst start.
Q: What will happen to Cal Ripken’s streak?
A: Because the Orioles won’t be playing any games, there won’t be any games for him to miss. His streak of 2,009 consecutive games played will remain intact, 122 behind Lou Gehrig’s record. Ripken could continue chasing the streak after regular players return and the Orioles start play.
Q: What is the likelihood of a split season, like in 1981?
A: It likely wouldn’t be addressed until a settlement, but if replacements are used for a significant portion of the season, some veteran baseball watchers think it is bound to happen.