On Wednesday, an arbitrator is expected to officially validate the union-authorization cards from thousands of minor league players -- the last step in the surprisingly quick unionization of Minor League Baseball. Here, Alden Gonzalez, Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers break down how we got here and what it all means.
Last weekend, Major League Baseball decided to voluntarily recognize the minor leaguers' unionization. Why?
Within a week of the Major League Baseball Players Association sending out union-authorization cards, a majority of the 5,500 active minor league players returned them saying they wanted to designate the MLBPA as their bargaining representative. At that point, MLB understood it had two choices: voluntarily recognize or force the players to go through a vote via the National Labor Relations Board. Both outcomes were going to end up in the same place: with the MLBPA representing a unit of minor league players.
The immediate recognition of the union also solved a lingering issue for MLB: intervention from the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the league's antitrust exemption. Whether the exemption, or pieces of it, ever were actually in jeopardy is unclear. The specter of congressional involvement -- and the potential for grandstanding that Capitol Hill brings -- created a great unknown for the league. The issues about which the committee showed interest should be addressed in the bargaining process, nullifying the headache of outside intervention.
How did...
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