(Bloomberg) — Baseball’s minor league players have been officially welcomed into the Major League Baseball Players Association after advocates for the athletes launched a unionization effort that gained the overwhelming support of the MLBPA’s executive board.
(Bloomberg) — Baseball’s minor league players have been officially welcomed into the Major League Baseball Players Association after advocates for the athletes launched a unionization effort that gained the overwhelming support of the MLBPA’s executive board.
“This historic achievement required the right group of players at the right moment to succeed,” MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark said in a statement. “Minor leaguers have courageously seized that moment, and we look forward to improving their terms and conditions of employment through the process of good faith collective bargaining.”
More than half of minor league players returned signed union authorization cards to the MLBPA, the Athletic reported on Sept. 6. Shortly after, the union wrote to Major League Baseball’s deputy commissioner, Dan Halem, requesting that the league formally recognize the MLBPA as the official collective bargaining representative for the over 5,500 players.
“We respect the rights of workers to decide for themselves whether to unionize,” Major League Baseball said in a statement obtained by USA Today. “We are hopeful that a timely and fair collective bargaining agreement will be reached that is good for the game, minor league players and our fans.”
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