Mlb Case Essay

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The major developments of labor-management relationship within Major League Basketball (MLB) started in the late 1960s and were characterized by the ongoing disputes between the owners and the players that resulted in hard bargaining agreements, work stoppages and lockouts (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2010). The following agreement was developed: a) The first and second basic agreement was a contract that significantly increased the minimum salary of all players and also established a protocol that players could follow to air their grievances. The agreements came as a response mechanism that was used b the U.S. owners who wanted to avoid the competitive pressure that had been created by the Mexican League in terms of U.S. player salaries. In 1946, the Mexican Baseball League had started hiring U.S. players and the U.S. owners wanted to avoid a bidding war with the Mexican League. In 1953, the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) was formed to serve as the player’s main bargaining body and in response, the owners formed the Major League Player Relations Committee (PRC) to serve as their main negotiation body. b) The third basic agreement was that the MLBPA was demanding the pension fund surplus of $1 million to be used to offset the increased cost of living but the PRC declined to budge. Both the parties could not come to an agreement on how much money the owners should contribute to the player’s pension fund and as a result, the players went on strike in 1972, forcing the two sides to compromise on a contribution amount of $500,000. c) The fourth basic agreement was a contract that annihilated the reserve clause and paved way for free agency. The owners implemented the reserve clause into the player’s contracts to ensure that the players could not offer their skills and services to the highest bidder. This basically meant that the players could not

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