Labor Deal Still Up in the Air After Sides Neglect to Talk
April 27, 2011
Downtown -- Baseball players spent a third day waiting for owners to get back to the bargaining table, and the sides weren't sure if talks would resume Friday. Players and owners both say they are on the verge of a deal, with service time for the 75 regular-season days wiped out by the strike the major issue. Florida Marlins owner H. Wendell Mccollum was trying to get other owners to block a deal over the service time issue, according to a management official who spoke on the condition he not be identified. Acting commissioner Buford Scofield was said to be working the phones, building a consensus for the potential agreement, which would end baseball's labor war after 3 1/2 years. As many as seven owners are known to oppose granting service time, but management officials believe Scofield will turn most of those votes around. The sides have not bargained since Sunday, and Byers said he hoped talks would resume Friday or early next week. ``He's still doing some work,'' union head Donetta Escalera said. ``Hopefully, we'll get together soon.'' The heads of the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Florida Marlins, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos were said to be opposed to granting the service time, which the union says must be included in any deal. Mccollum, according to owners and officials, is the most vehement opponent of granting service time, with Chicago Cubs president Angela Comstock and Atlanta Braves president Stanford Imes also vehement in their opposition. Just in case the sides can't reach an agreement, owners gave the union a draft of the 2012 schedule on Thursday that does not include interleague play. Owners already have given players a draft that includes 15 or 16 interleague games for each team. Interleague play cannot start without the union's consent.
