Major League Baseball (MLB) has been in a lockout since Dec. 2, 2021, long enough to delay the start of spring training, and likely the 2022 season.
Throughout the course of negotiations, there has been a clear disagreement between the MLB Players Association and franchise owners. In a meeting on Feb. 17, that lasted only 15 minutes, the two parties were separated into two key issues, arbitration and minimum salaries.
The ongoing disagreement in MLB is not very different from the disconnect between big corporations and their employees. As the fight for a higher minimum wage continues, the American workforce could learn a thing or two from the MLB players and other sports leagues.
Both the MLB Players Association and the owners have just as much at stake as the other, so no one has the clear negotiating advantage. However, players certainly have gained public support as other American professional sports leagues and amateur sports have emphasized the rights of its players and employees.
At the forefront of the new era of player empowerment were the NBA players who took control of where they wanted and when they wanted to play following the protest of games after the murder of George Floyd. Joining them in an effort for players’ rights was the passage of NIL law in college sports, which allows student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness.
It is no secret that the culture surrounding sports can be hostile to women and minorities — stemming from the treatment of women in sports to the hiring practices of minority coaches. But leagues have made significant strides to try and fix that in recent years as players and coaches have been outspoken about it both through media and lawsuits.
As for Major League Baseball, the league is all so familiar with work stoppages stemming from strikes and lockouts. But the last time it affected games being played was in 1994 when an entire postseason was canceled.
While going on strike may not always work, as the 2012 fast-food workers strike did not attain its goal of getting a $15 minimum wage, American employees should continue the fight for more rights, along with MLB players.
In this fight, the goal should not just be for an increased minimum wage, like the MLB players union is fighting for. Players are wanting a minimum salary of $775,000 in 2022 and an incremental increase in years after, up from $570,500 in 2021. This may seem like a lot of money compared to the average American worker’s salary, but the average length of an MLB career is just 6.06 years. Since the league’s creation in 1876, only 22,238 athletes have played in it.
Similarly in the American workforce, the minimum wage should be even higher than what was being fought for a decade ago due to the rise in inflation. Accounting for gains in productivity, the American minimum wage should be closer to $24 this year and $30 by 2025. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 and has remained the same since 2009.
The fight should also be for equal pay and opportunity for women and minorities. While the MLB has seen gains in the hiring of Kim Ng, the first women general manager in professional sports, the American workforce continues to fall behind.
Even though the pay gap between men and women is decreasing, women still earn 82 cents per every dollar a man makes. The COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to setbacks in the women’s labor force. The women’s labor force participation rate was 55.8% in February 2021 – the same rate as of April 1987.
The fight for a higher wage also includes additional paid vacation leave, which players in the Minor League (MiLB) have a similar argument for. Currently, the MLB does not believe MiLB players should be paid during spring training because the “training they receive is ample compensation.”
In the U.S., there is no legal minimum amount of paid time off set. Only about 74% of American workers have access to paid leave. Whereas, in New Zealand, employees receive four weeks of paid annual leave after a year of employment. With paid leave, the American workforce and MiLB players can exhibit higher levels of productivity and less stress.
MLB owners pump billions of dollars into the franchises they own, and while it may not be known whether they care about anything other than revenue, they definitely expect a return on their investment. So surely if they are arguing for a bigger piece of the revenue share, they must be seeing their revenue shrinking, in which case they have a good argument for their demands of raising the luxury tax a small percentage and keeping the minimum salaries lower than what the MLB Players Association demands.
The problem is that owners have seen $8 billion in profits since 2010 and their cries for hardship may only be a negotiating tactic. This is all too similar to how major corporations continue to see record profit margins as costs continue to rise rather than their employees’ wages.
With Opening Day looming, for baseball fans like myself, I do hope both sides can find common ground, and Major League Baseball will return in 2022, with minimum games canceled. But I do not see a reason for the players to back down and not get what they rightfully deserve as should the rest of working Americans.
– Dillon Strine is a journalism junior
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