![]() A small group of players had formed a leadership group before the start of the season, with more coming onboard as the year wore on, and they had invested months in simply talking to their teammates-hearing their struggles, learning what reforms might be most important for them and trying to explain why they felt a better future could be possible with a union. ![]() (The staff of Advocates for Minor Leaguers were absorbed by the MLBPA as part of unionization.) Yet players say the most critical part of the organizing process was the most basic: It was the fact that they had spent all summer talking to each other. But that came on top of groundwork laid by nonprofit groups, such as Advocates for Minor Leaguers and More Than Baseball, which had been working directly with minor leaguers to improve their conditions over the last few years. How did the organizers-a ragtag mix of largely current and former minor league ballplayers-land such a lightning strike against Major League Baseball’s 30 billionaire owners?Īccording to the players and organizers involved, the influence and resources of the MLBPA played a role, yes. A majority of players had signed their cards to signal their interest, MLB had recognized them voluntarily and an arbitrator had verified the process, thereby making the minor league union official. This does not make for a workplace terribly conducive to long-term organizing or big-picture reform.Īnd yet, in late August, the news broke like a thunderclap: roughly 5,500 minor leaguers had received union authorization cards from the Major League Baseball Players Association, asking to represent them as their own bargaining unit separate from the major leaguers.īy mid-September, it was a done deal. And even with players who do stay in one farm system for years, well, none of them particularly want to: All minor leaguers want to be major leaguers. Each clubhouse fluctuates constantly as players are promoted, demoted, released and traded. ![]() There’s considerable turnover, with players departing either because they make it to the big leagues or because they leave the game altogether, replaced each year by a new draft class and crop of international signings. There was also a logistical problem: The minor-league workforce is naturally diffuse and transient.
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