Just how well minor-league collective bargaining is progressing should become clearer in January.
In the past two months, the Players Association has made a series of proposals to the commissioner’s office, including those covering the major economic issues: minimum wage, housing, food, transportation, grievance procedure and benefits, people briefed on the process said. The league is digesting those proposals, and next month plans to make its first set of counter-offers. Once those move across the table, it should become clearer how close, or far apart, the sides are.
The specifics of the union’s opening proposals were not immediately known. In the old system, owners paid minor leaguers salaries of $400 per week in rookie ball, $500 in Class A, $600 in Double A and $700 in Triple A. Those amounts were paid during the season, as opposed to year-round. The MLBPA is looking for salary increases, among many other changes.
The league and the union have deliberately kept the process quiet so far, a contrast to the last two years that led up to the unionization of minor leaguers late this summer. Player advocates spoke loudly and frequently about the working conditions of minor leaguers as they built support for a union. But once bargaining formally began in November, both sides felt the process would be better off out of the public eye.
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