Players Reject Federal Mediation

Hope dims for MLB starting spring training on schedule
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 3, 2022 6:30 PM CST
Updated Feb 4, 2022 4:30 PM CST
As Spring Training Nears, Baseball Asks for Mediation
Bruce Meyer leads a players union bargaining team to negotiations Tuesday at MLB offices in New York.   (AP Photo/Ron Blum)

Update: The Players Association on Friday rejected Major League Baseball's proposal to invite federal mediators into their negotiations. "Two months after implementing their lockout, and just two days after committing to Players that a counterproposal would be made, the owners refused to make a counter, and instead requested mediation," the union said in a statement about its decision. That's pretty much the end of any hope of spring training starting on time, per ESPN, and further puts the March 31 Opening Day at risk, though the owners said Friday they still hope to start on schedule. The only possibility would be the owners lifting the lockout and play beginning while negotiations go on. Our original story from Feb. 3 follows:

With little progress being made in negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, baseball is calling for help. On Thursday, Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem asked the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to intervene, the AP reports. Major League Baseball locked out the players on Dec. 1, putting play in jeopardy starting with spring training, which was scheduled to begin in 10 days. The owners and players union have met a few times but still aren't close on economic issues, per CBS Sports.

The Players Association would have to agree to federal mediation, per the Athletic, and the union didn't comment on that possibility Thursday, the 64th day of the stoppage. The owners did tell the union no counterproposal was forthcoming, despite saying one was on the way two days earlier, per the Athletic. The mediation service was brought in during the 1994-95 stoppage, but it didn't break the impasse. Donald Fehr, head of the union at the time, said the mediation "had no value. And there were all kind of agendas at work in the mediation that had nothing to do with the agendas of the parties trying to resolve the dispute." (More Major League Baseball stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X