The New York Yankees and all of baseball have now entered its 88th day of the dragging on negotiations to achieve a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that expired on December 1, 2021. During the first half of the postseason, the sides showed no urgency in getting anything done. But, now, in the last weeks, there has been a flurry of activity. Some of that activity has been somewhat encouraging, but the sides are still far apart on some major issues.
With spring training games already canceled, the owners produced their last proposals, which the players rejected. The players came back with a set of compromises that the owners soundly rejected, seemingly unwilling to come together for a resolution. This angered many players on the player’s union executive committee, putting talks in limbo. There is now a good chance that the regular season will not start on time. MLB says that if any games are to be canceled, they will not be made up.
At this point, it seems that the owners just want to win on the major points of contention, which has drawn the sides even further apart, as both sides want to make progress. The union has said that they are tired of losing out on these employer-employee negotiations and don’t intend to lose out again.
The MLBPA made a significant compromise proposal to the league yesterday. After the meeting, the results were not happy for either side. The owners reportedly “reacted badly” to the proposal, which saw the union attempt to compromise with MLB issues, including the arbitration system and the CBT. In the first half of the meeting, the players’ side was reportedly furious. That’s when the sides split off to private meetings. That was the start of things getting ugly. The players came back with more compromises which were quickly rejected, causing even more animosity between the sides, halting yet again the negotiations.
Early this morning, there is no news on whether the sides will meet again today. One thing is for sure, the longer the sides can’t come to a compromise, the more likely regular-season games will be canceled. Zack Britton and Gerrit Cole are both New York Yankee representatives to the Players Association.
“I was at our PA meeting in AZ, and it was exciting to see solidarity this high,” Cole tweeted. “We had 100+ players show up and are united to protect the integrity of the game.”
The present meetings between the two sides are being held at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, home of the spring training Marlins and Cardinals, in Jupiter, Florida.