Minor League Umps Sign with Minor League Baseball
Play ball! So says the Association of Minor League Umpires (AMLU), whose 200 members voted earlier this week to accept a contract negotiated with Minor League Baseball. AMLU is affiliated as Guild 322 of the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU). The pact marks the first contract negotiated by the league and the union since the one that settled the nearly yearlong strike during the 2006 season.
AMLU President Shaun Francis noted the importance of the 2006 strike and the union’s OPEIU affiliation in arriving at the deal with team owners:
It is exciting to have such a good contract and get it done before the December holidays. In this deal we have more money and a better overall contract than what we were able to get last time after a strike. It’s clear to me that this union’s solidarity and determination in 2006 was one of the driving forces behind getting a deal done this time around. And our affiliation with OPEIU gave us the strength and the resources we needed to get a deal done.
Play Ball!
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With Major League Baseball’s 2011 season under way, our friends at the Alliance for American Manufacturing remind us that the all-American pastime still features some Made-in-USA sports gear.
Rawlings has been making baseball gloves since 1887. Despite diversifying overseas, Rawlings’ pro model and custom gloves are still made in Washington, Mo.
You can do what the pros do and have your glove tailor-made to your exact specifications at Rawlings’ Missouri factory.
You can’t have a ball game without a bat, so get a good grip on a Louisville Slugger. The wooden bats are crafted by members of the United Steelworkers (USW) at the company’s home in Louisville, Ky. The aluminum bats are produced in Ontario, Calif., by members of the Teamsters (IBT).
Players Want 2011 All-Star Game Moved Out of Arizona
Baseball fans, take a good look at some of the players in tonight’s All-Star Game. You may not see them at next year’s classic if they are Latino. A growing number of Latino players—including such perennial all-stars as Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez—have said they would not participate in the game if it is played as scheduled next year in Phoenix.
The Latino players are calling on Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to move the 2011 game out of Phoenix as a protest against Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law, which goes into effect July 29.
The law requires police to stop and question anyone they have “reasonable suspicion” of being undocumented. The law does not define “reasonable suspicion,” a fact that many opponents say is a carte blanche for racial profiling.
Umps Make Right Call, Vote for OPEIU Affiliation
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No arguing with the umpire on this call. The 215-member Association of Minor League Umpires (AMLU) voted by 91 percent to affiliate with the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU).
AMLU President Shaun Francis says the umpires’ decision:
“is the next step in a progression toward improving the lives and working conditions of some of the hardest working and most underappreciated people in the game.”
The life of a minor league umpire is difficult, with low pay, no vacation or sick time and no ability to return home during the long season, which lasts from spring training in March to mid to late September. Salary for a minor league umpire starts at $1,800 per month and is only paid during the season, forcing the umpires to work a second or third job during the off-season.
Baseball Stars Knock It Out of the Park for Employee Free Choice
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Just in time for the World Series, 12 members of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) have added their names to the broad coalition in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.
The players have signed a statement and appeared in print ads in Washington, D.C., papers yesterday. World Series participants Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Mark Teixeira took part. They were joined by Heath Bell, Dave Bush, LaTroy Hawkins, Torii Hunter, John Lannan, Andrew Miller, J.J. Putz, Justin Verlander and Adam Wainwright.
In a joint statement, these players say:
All Americans should have the same opportunity we’ve had—to be able to join a union without being fired and to negotiate with their employers without being penalized. Today, our country is facing some tough times. Health care costs are skyrocketing. Families are losing homes. Savings and retirement income are disappearing overnight.
A Quick Tour of the Bush Legacy
* In the Laugh-if-it-Didn’t-Hurt-So-Much category:
In an interview with The Associated Press, Vice President Dick Cheney also said that President George W. Bush has no need to apologize for not foreseeing the economic crisis.
“I don’t think he needs to apologize. I think what he needed to do is take bold, aggressive action and he has,” Cheney said.
* Laugh and Hurt, Part II: Bush took such “aggressive action” on the economy, he must have worried a lot about it. NOT. In fact, when asked by People magazine about which moments from the past eight years he revisited most often, Bush talked passionately about the pitch he threw out at the World Series in 2001:
“I never felt that anxious any other time during my presidency, curiously enough.”
