MLB, Players agree on mutual terms sign new collective bargaining agreement –MLB Update
Major League Baseball (MLB) and the MLB Players Association has set yet another example in the world of sports by signing a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) after agreeing on mutual terms to continue working in a peaceful manner for 21 straight
years without any sort of stoppage from either side.
It was back in 1994 when the league faced such a problem where the labour went on staff due to financial issues, but ever since, the players association and the MLB have managed to keep things running in a peaceful and smooth working manner.
At a time when the National Hockey League (NHL) faced such issues in 2004-2005, followed by the National Football League (NFL) and now the National Basketball Association (NBA), all which have had their fair share of financial troubles, the MLB is an exemplary
example of harmony between all of their shareholders.
The new CBA will be of five years, making it effective well through the 2015-2016 season and is expected to be easily renewed after its expiration is reached in the future.
“I believe this five-year agreement will continue the remarkable popularity and surge that baseball has been on,” Commissioner Bud Selig said, with MLBPA director Michael Weiner in a press conference on Wednesday, November 23, 2011. “Nobody back in the ’70s,
’80 or early ’90s would ever have believed we would have 21 years of labor peace. . . . This is really a proud day for us.”
The agreement is not totally the same one that was signed previously, but does include a few changed in order to deal with the latest needs of the players, team owners and the league mutually.
For the bigger teams that have higher budgets and are able to spend more on the improvement of their respective franchises, a luxury tax set by the league will be imposed specifically on signing players during the draft and potential signing bonuses and
such expenditures.
Another significant change noticeable in the agreement was the inclusion of the “sexual discrimination” in article XV, which already covers that no player shall be discriminated on the basis of race, colour, religion or national origin, and now sexual orientation
for the homosexual players in the league who felt threatened, but not anymore.
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