Group praises big leaguers for turning down minor league cuts

NEW YORK (AP) — A minor league players’ advocacy group has praised locked-out big leaguers for refusing to consider a Major League Baseball proposal that would give teams the option of cutting 900 league jobs. minors.

MLB has proposed that the Major League Baseball Players Association agree that management has the option of reducing the number of national players with minor league contracts to 150 if it chooses to start in 2023, from 180. MLB also requested the flexibility to increase the figure. .

The union said during ongoing negotiations that it was not interested in the proposal, which is part of a larger package of 28 articles, and that it had rejected it at least three times.

“We were pleased to learn that the MLBPA has repeatedly rejected MLB’s short-sighted proposal to cut even more minor league jobs,” attorneys for the minor leaguers said in a statement Tuesday. “The proposal itself re-emphasizes that minor leaguers need and deserve a say in their wages and working conditions.”

Players with major league contracts are unionized, covering those on the big league 40-player rosters. Players with minor league contracts are not covered by collective bargaining.

The proposal was first reported by ESPN.

After successfully lobbying Congress to exempt the minor leaguers from federal minimum wage laws, MLB raised wages between 38% and 72% when the minor leaguers returned last year after a one-year absence. season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports




Comments are closed.