New and Concerning Phase of MLB Lockout

As Patrick Glynn wrote about on MMO, on Thursday Major League Baseball requested immediate mediation assistance from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to help resolve the current labor dispute with the Major League Baseball Players Association. On the surface, this may seem like a positive step. In reality, it is not.

Seeking mediation assistance is not uncommon in all types of disputes, from labor unrest to family matters. The mediator tries to help the sides find common ground to expedite a resolution. The mediator’s recommendations, if there are any specific ones, are not binding. In an article for ESPN.com, Jeff Passan provides a brief history of mediation involvement in sports labor relations.

Recent mediation efforts in other sports have provided successful outcomes. After helping resolve the 2013 National Hockey League lockout, mediator Scot Beckenbaugh, who remains the “master mediator” at FMCS, was praised by union members and league officials for helping create a path to a deal. Beckenbaugh also mediated the Major League Soccer strike in 2015 and a handful of other recent disputes between leagues and referees’ unions.

So far, it still sounds like requesting mediation makes sense to help get baseball back on track, right? Well, the first problem is the way in which mediation was requested. MLB did so unilaterally, and in order for mediation to be implemented both sides have to agree to it. The union sees the request for mediation as a grandstanding move by MLB, displaying publicly that the owners are willing to pull available levers to get to a settlement. The union is probably correct, and likely annoyed. This move by MLB is typical of the history of labor relations in baseball. Both sides try to win in the court of public opinion, and seem to put more effort into that than coming to an agreement.

The next problem is that mediation has been tried before in baseball without success. From Passan’s article:

Mediator Bill Usery angered players with his approach and was unable to save the 1994 World Series or reach an agreement for the beginning of the 1995 season. Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, a union leader at the time, said: “We were willing to compromise, and we have shown that. But Mr. Usery’s proposal was outrageous in many instances. We’d be giving away things we’ve gone on strike for previously. Mr. Usery couldn’t answer any questions about what a lot of his proposal meant.” Then-MLBPA director Don Fehr expressed similar disappointment.

We know that the 1994 season was canceled despite mediation. Why has mediation worked in other sports, and not in baseball? The basic mistrust and acrimony run very deep, and despite over a quarter century of labor peace, relations between the players and owners have always been uneasy. After the last Collective Bargaining Agreement was signed, the first reaction was who “won and lost?” Consensus was that the owners came out on top. Now, the players seem set on avenging that perceived loss, and the owners want to continue their winning streak, after losing in the perception battle for 45 years.

One thing could put an end to this impasse definitively, binding arbitration. Neither side would go for that, and it would be virtually impossible to implement since the owners do not have to (and will not) open their financial records. Mediation will be rejected by the union in all likelihood, so it seems this dispute will have to be resolved by the parties that have met a grand total of four times in two months.

Where does this leave the 2022 season? Spring training will be delayed. There needs to be a new CBA in place by the last week of February to avoid a delayed start of the regular season, and a possibly shortened season. The players and owners have agreed a few points during the lockout, such as a draft lottery, universal DH, expanded playoffs (though the exact number of teams is not yet final), a bonus pool concept (not dollars in it) for pre-arbitration players, and keeping free agency at six years of service time.

They have shown they can agree in places, but the core economic issues, in particular the Competitive Balance Tax and revenue sharing, remain unresolved. Now, the calendar is clearly in the picture. Spring training will not start on time. Next up is the regular season. Three weeks remain to get a deal done and avoid a delay and/or missed games.

Maybe MLB’s offer of mediation is in recognition of the fact that they know they are playing with fire. The fans are already edgy, and they’re the ones who buy the tickets and merchandise. It’s more likely that yesterday’s offer of mediation was for the cameras, and consistent with the modus operandi that has characterized labor relations in baseball since the early 1970s.

No one really knows where this dispute goes from here. The biggest problem is that it does not seem that MLB and the MLBPA know either.

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