MLBPA Out to Unionize Minor Leaguers

The Major League Baseball Players Association has launched a campaign to unionize Minor League players across the country, the MLBPA announced via release on Monday.

The MLBPA also posted the release to Twitter and other social media.

The move is the latest step of advocacy on behalf of Minor League players as it relates to working conditions and player wages.

It comes a month after Major League Baseball sent a 17-page letter to Congress detailing while the league should continue to enjoy an anti-trust exemption. That letter, as reported by The Athletic, was designed to bolster MLB’s argument that the exemption allows MLB, and its minor-league players and franchises, are better off with the exemption.

The MLBPA executive board approved the effort during a meeting on Sunday night.

“Minor Leaguers represent our game’s future and deserve wages and working conditions that befit elite athletes who entertain millions of fans nationwide,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said in the release. “They’re an important part of the fraternity and we want to help them achieve their goals both on and off the field.”

Advocates for Minor Leaguers, an organization currently led by Harry Marino, also supports the effort. Each member of the Advocates for Minor Leaguers staff has resigned to take on a new role with the MLBPA, per the release.

“This generation of Minor League players has demonstrated an unprecedented ability to address workplace issues with a collective voice,” said Harry Marino, the outgoing executive director for Advocates for Minor Leaguers. “Joining with the most powerful union in professional sports assures that this voice is heard where it matters most — at the bargaining table.”

MLB was first given an anti-trust exemption in 1922, and it effectively insulates the game from certain practices that other companies and organizations must adhere to.

The anti-trust exemption is coming up now as it relates to minor league baseball, where there is concerns that players are not paid a living wage, a point that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred dismissed during an All-Star Game press conference.

While most minor league players get a signing bonus when they’re drafted and signed, their wages typically start at $400 per week at the game’s lower levels and improve to $700 per week at the Triple-A level. Wages are only paid during the season.

The letter spent time explaining why the anti-trust exemption is important to the game, including minor league players.

While MLB has made significant improvements to living conditions and wages for minor league players, including paying for players’ living arrangements during the season, it’s only been due to significant pressure applied by organizations like Advocates for Minor Leaguers.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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