(New York) The Major League Baseball Players’ Association (MLBPA) is now responsible for negotiating a contract for the more than 5,500 minor league players, as a lightning-fast membership campaign was completed on Wednesday, launched only 17 days ago.
Posted yesterday at 8:28 p.m.
Minor league players, who can earn as little as US$10,400 per season, are expected to negotiate an initial collective bargaining agreement in the offseason.
Independent baseball umpire Martin Scheinman has told Major League Baseball and the union that more than half of the 5,567 minor league players have signed union credentials since the operation began Aug. 28, according to what two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. These people requested anonymity since no announcement was made.
MLB said Saturday it would voluntarily accept minor league unionization if a majority of players were in favor and would not force an election by the federal labor relations agency.
Minor league players will form a bargaining unit independent of major league players within the MLBPA, which first negotiated a collective bargaining agreement in 1968. About 1,200 players are covered by the MLB labor contract. Their average salary has gone from $19,000 in 1967 to over $4 million this season.
Minor league players will have to choose their representatives who will negotiate on their behalf this winter. MLB and the MLBPA have had a rocky relationship over the years, which has led to nine work stoppages, including one lockout of 99 days last winter, which led to the postponement of the start of the 2022 season.
Union fees for minor league players are also expected to be a mere fraction of the $85 per day over a 182-day season that MLB players pay.
MLB raised the minimum weekly wage in the minor leagues in 2021: $400 for rookie leagues and shortened seasons; $500 at level A; $600 at AA level; and $700 at the AAA level. Players with an MLB contract who are transferred to the minor leagues cannot receive less than $57,200 per season on a first MLB contract, or $114,100 on subsequent contracts.
Additionally, MLB has required its clubs to provide housing for most minor league players.
Several amateur players, however, receive significant signing bonuses: 67 of the 68 first picks of 2022 have accepted a signing bonus of 1 million or more. The top 97 picks all received at least $690,000.
MLB and attorneys for minor league players settled this season on an $185 million settlement in a lawsuit filed eight years ago over a violation of minimum wage rules. It is possible that 23,000 players could thus share some 120 million, while their lawyers would separate 55.5 million.