Fox 26 reports that strike averted.

wow..this is running contrary to every other report i've heard today that they finished off two sessions of negotiation overnight, but still have not reached a deal.

 

are they describing the sources for this information at all???

 

hey..no need to apologize!! thanks for the information!!

 

Dave Van Dyck of foxsports.com just recanted his breaking story that the strike was averted and the negotations were done. He was the first to report that both sides came to an agreement (based on an internal confidential source)... but now, 2 hours later, he has said new snags have entered the fray when "Boston Red Sox players were told not to board the bus to their chater flight to Cleveland at 7:30am"


VAN DYCK: Labor talks hit snag on verge of breakthrough
BY DAVE VAN DYCK
FOXSports.com
Aug. 30, 2002 7:46 a.m.

NEW YORK — Just as it seemed baseball was on the verge of an historic breakthrough, talks appeared to fall apart at the twelfth hour just after dawn Friday morning.

Officials who had been planning for a late-morning news conference were left scratching their head after union officials walked out of a short negotiating session just before 7 a.m. EDT.

The first indication that talks had hit a serious snag was when the Boston Red Sox players were told not to board the bus to their charter flight to Cleveland at 7:30 a.m. Union officials had told them to stand by until a final decision was made on whether to strike for the ninth straight since 1972.

By near dawn Friday two officials said they fully expected the deal to be completed. It's possible that the final hold-up was whether contracts for players would expire Oct. 31 or Dec. 31, the latter of which the players demanded.

It seemed that a breakthrough had come about 4 a.m. EDT when MLB President Bob DuPuy and Chief Negotiator Rob Manfred left their offices and went to the union building. They met for almost a half an hour and the union gave them a proposal while most of the city that never sleeps was asleep.

DuPuy and Manfred then came back to their offices and waited for a final response from the union. Although an agreement had been reached in principle just two hours before the 4 a.m. meeting, tempers were frayed by lack of sleep and lack of progress in negotiations. MLB officials took a break at 3 a.m., most of them heading home for a quick shower and change of clothes.

Final impediments to the agreement were details of a luxury tax and termination date of the contract, the latter of which surprisingly became a major issue.

The negotiations were long and arduous. The longest took place starting at 9:30 p.m., one in which union director Donald Fehr himself was present. Fehr led an entourage of lieutenants, including player reps Tom Glavine and B.J. Surhoff, into the owners' offices.

Sources say Fehr made a heated, sometimes vitriolic speech to the ownership negotiating committee, then left for his players conference call. His brother, Steve Fehr, and union lawyer Michael Weiner remained behind for several hours to continue negotiations.

The final sticking point remained the luxury tax and neither side appeared willing to cave in as Thursday night turned into Friday morning. No one had any official public comment, preferring to wait until there was a settlement or the players announced their strike.

One management source very close to the negotiations said in early evening that there "was little progress" on the luxury tax issues.

"It's very complicated and takes time because there are so many (facets) to it," he said. "But a deal is there to be done."

Remember, though, that was a management person speaking.

Feelings of doom or hope bungeed up and down all day during the four-block shuttle diplomacy between owners' offices and players' headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. The owners hosted one meeting Thursday morning and the players hosted two afternoon meetings.

An actual settlement would be a historic breakthrough for these two old enemies, whose 30-year war includes eight strikes or lockouts. If they had learned from the 1994-95 World Series cancellation and fan alienation that stopping play again just isn't worth it, there weren't showing it Thursday night. But the truth is, owners and players have realized for weeks that fans are truly fed up with both of them whining over how to split up a $3½ billion bonanza. Even the shortest of strikes would drive thousands of fans away permanently.

A few protestors stood outside the MLB offices on Park Avenue Thursday, where hours before the owners and players had gone home in a pessimistic mood, neither side willing to bend enough to get a compromise.

Commissioner Bud Selig spent much of the daylight hours Thursday on the phone with various owners. It is believed he gave them what the union claimed was its final offer on luxury tax, and then asked them if it were worth shutting the game down by refusing to accept it.

Indeed, has all this been worth the acrimony it has caused over the last few weeks? For either side?

Of course not. But we've all had to be involved in it because we are the ones who care about the game and spend money on it. Money that makes both the owners and players rich men.

How fitting it is that something called a "luxury" tax would be the final hurdle.

Negotiators had already agreed on the other sticky points of a new labor agreement, steroid testing and revenue sharing.

"Revenue sharing has actually been done for a while, give or take the final numbers that come out of the luxury tax," one management source said.

Owners have been trying to win economic concessions from the players' union in an effort to close the disparity between large- and small-market teams. They have claimed a debt of nearly $4 billion and losses last year of more than $500 million.

Owners trot out statistics that show only five of 224 playoff games since 1995 have been won by teams in the bottom half in revenue.

Clearly, they have been asking the players' union for help in what some say could be a partnership.

While players may not exactly want to schmooze up and be cuddly partners, they have agreed to make concessions and allow owners to share local revenues and they have agreed to some sort of luxury tax. They claim it is their admission and recognition of the game's (and country's) economic problems.

That hasn't stopped the war drums from beating for weeks on end.

The union finally chose this weekend to walk out because it is (appropriately) Labor Day, traditionally the last big payday for non-contenders. Even pennant-race teams have trouble drawing sellouts once kids go back to school.

Games this weekend start with St. Louis at the Cubs, arguably the most heated rivalry outside of Red Sox vs. Yankees. All games — which include a first-ever day-night doubleheader at Wrigley Field — will be sold out.

The Red Sox and Yankees play beginning on Labor Day; so do the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, which is quickly turning into blood battle.

Of course, with the new unbalanced schedule, most teams play within their divisions in the final month and big gates could be lost.

But hurting management (in this case, ownership) is the purpose behind a union striking. And, in case you had any lingering doubts, the Players Association is a very strong union with a very strong leader.

Player salaries have increased nearly tenfold in Donald Fehr's two decades as executive director.

Threatening a strike is the workers' way of making a point and of setting a clear deadline for management. And sometimes it takes all the way to that deadline to find a solution.

 

No offense to any baseball fans, but I am actively rooting for a strike. I just think it would be great comedy.

 

A comedy of errors.

 

you know what...as difficult as it is for me being a huge Astros fan and having them in the heat of a pennant race...i'm kinda rooting for it too...because i think the context of a real work stoppage is probably the only way we get real fundamental change that allows a city like Kansas City to feel like they have a shot at the World Series from year to year.

 

you need to draw a sharper distinction between the Fox News Channel (cable) and Fox KRIV Channel 26 here in Houston.

 

I agree with this and BK's statements. If the strike is avoided, I'm afraid that the changes that REALLY need to occur will never happen and fans will continue to become increasingly pissed and eventually baseball will choke itself to death. Way to go MLBPA (and owners)!

 

i'm a big baseball fan and I too want to see a strike...

these problems need to be permanently fixed, no more short term band-aids... i don't want to have to go through this again in 7 years when this new CBA expires... Fix it now by blowing up the system and starting over...

than I can return to the game I love w/o worrying about money issues!

 

Who cares if they strike??

I mean college football really starts this weekend, anyway followed by the NFL next weekend. NBA gears up in November and is around until June. So, for like 2 months, baseball *is* needed. I think I could get by on 2 months of not having football or basketball.

Buh bye, MLB, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

 

this sentiment is particularly felt in Houston right now. I mean we have a team in the midst of a pennant race...but we also have a BRAND NEW football team to get excited about. this whole thing risks losing the advances the astros have made in the public conciousness over the course of the last few years...

 

Wouldn't the CBA last only 4 years? We'd have to go through this again.

Time for another name change, Manny.

 

I agree. I don't know what school you went to Manny, but how about "Cory Redding"?

 

Vescey and drapg,

Never again for a name change




It caused me many sleepless nights...