MLB owners ratified the first-ever collective bargaining agreement in minor-league baseball history in a 30-0 vote, a landmark moment in the sport’s history, and for the players in particular.
Around 9 p.m. ET on March 29, Major League Baseball Players Association leadership notified thousands of minor-league players that the union had reached a tentative five-year agreement with MLB in time for Opening Day. Minor leaguers also voted on whether to formally accept that deal.
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The deal — which would have sounded outlandish just a year ago, when minor leaguers didn’t have a union — provides raises to players and a slew of other improvements, including the creation of a formal grievance procedure with access to neutral arbitrators in most instances, union officials said.
Under the CBA, minimum annual salaries will be as follows:
At the complex league and rookie ball, $19,800, up from $4,800; Single A: $26,200, up from $11,000; High A: $27,300, up from $11,000; Double A: $30,250, up from $13,800; Triple A: $35,800, up from $17,500.
The salary increases took effect as soon as the deal was ratified, and players are to receive retroactive pay for four weeks of this year’s spring training. Per one estimate, the CBA will cost MLB around $90 million the first year.
“This agreement builds upon the significant effort MLB undertook four years ago to modernize baseball’s player development system, including increased salaries, free housing, improved facilities, better clubhouse conditions, and reduced in-season travel with better geographical alignment,” MLB said in a statement after the owners ratified the deal.
Per union officials, here are more elements of the deal:
• Players who sign at age 19 or older are going to be under club reserve for six years, rather than seven, which is the blanket number that previously applied to all players. This policy is not retroactive to players who previously signed at age 19 or older.
• Some improvements to MLB’s housing policy. Players will have their own bedrooms at home at Double A and Triple A. Players are going to either receive a bedroom or be allowed to opt out and instead receive a stipend at Low A and High A. Spouses and children are going to be accommodated in club-provided housing. Housing is free for players except those who make a higher amount.
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• One of the elements MLB pushed hard for in the deal, and an issue the MLBPA gave some ground on, was the right to reduce the size of the maximum amount of players that can be carried on the domestic reserve lists. The union agreed to allow MLB to trim the maximum to 165 during the season, down from 180; and to 175 in the offseason, down from 190. Those cuts, however, cannot take place until 2024 at the earliest. MLB looks at this as right-sizing rosters, believing that if it were starting the minor leagues over today, there wouldn’t be as many spots as there are now. MLB initially wanted a blanket right to downsize rosters as the owners saw fit, which the MLBPA did not allow.
• Transportation: For rookie ball, Low A and High A transportation to and from the field is guaranteed to players. At Double A and Triple A, issues are to be addressed as they come up.
• The creation of a joint clubhouse nutrition committee to oversee meal quality, and increase in per diem.
• A committee for feedback on rule changes that MLB implements in the minors.
• A joint drug agreement and domestic violence policy.
• Players receive their NIL rights, and the MLBPA plans to do group licensing.
• With medical issues, players in certain circumstances will have rights to second opinions.
• Different training periods: The fall training period lasts from the end of the season until the Friday before Thanksgiving. A dead period follows from the Saturday before Thanksgiving through Jan. 1. Then there will be a winter training period from Jan. 2 until spring training. During the training periods, players are to be paid at one rate if they’re home, and if they’re called into the complex for instructional leagues or other work, they’ll be paid at a higher rate. The minimum salaries listed above assume players are at home during those training periods, so players can make more money than those minimum salaries listed.
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• MLB formally agreed that there would not be contraction of minor-league teams during the life of the CBA. Contraction would be highly unlikely anyway because MLB signed 10-year contracts with each minor-league club, and those deals are not set to expire before this CBA ends. But the MLBPA wanted to have the language in place for future deals, and for peace of mind.
The tentative CBA comes 213 days after the MLBPA moved publicly to unionize the minor leaguers. Creating a CBA from scratch in a matter of four-plus months, dating to the start of formal negotiations in November, was no easy task, and meetings between MLB and the MLBPA were held more or less daily in the last three weeks.
All along, both sides said they were targeting Opening Day to complete a deal. Had the day passed without an agreement, talks would have continued, as opposed to giving way to a work stoppage that would halt minor-league baseball. The players were not imminently about to go on strike, nor were the owners about to lock out the players.
For as much as players wanted change as soon as possible, the commissioner’s office and the owners also had a few incentives to get a deal done prior to the season.
Without a deal, MLB could have been in an arduous position administratively: teams might have to pay players in different states different amounts to avoid violating local minimum wage laws. Minor-league players in 2014 sued MLB for violating wage laws in a case referred to as “Senne” that was settled last year for $185 million.
That case showed MLB that it was not, in fact, adequately following some laws in the eyes of a federal judge. But with salaries now about to be a collectively bargained affair — and said to be set above applicable state minimum-wage laws — MLB would appear less vulnerable to wage-related lawsuits going forward. (Nonetheless, during bargaining, MLB has been lobbying different state legislatures, including Florida’s, to ensure that minor leaguers are exempt from minimum wage laws.)
MLB also had a public-relations incentive to get a deal done quickly. As minor leaguers began speaking out about their pay and overall treatment in the last couple years, the pressure mounted for the league to do better. Before the players unionized, MLB voluntarily decided to provide housing for minor leaguers, starting last season. Many players previously struggled to find adequate housing on their meager salaries.
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Last summer, members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee started to ask questions of MLB, and the threat of a hearing on Capitol Hill over the league’s famous antitrust exemption loomed. Then, late on Aug. 28, the MLBPA sent out authorization cards to minor-league players, revealing to the public for the first time that the MLBPA had interest in bringing minor leaguers under its umbrella.
That decision was radical, given the union’s history. For more than half a century previously, the MLBPA had chosen not to organize minor leaguers. Successfully reaching the 5,000 or so players was an effort led by multiple people, including MLBPA head Tony Clark and a lawyer who worked outside the union before joining the MLBPA himself, Harry Marino.
Marino was the leader of the non-profit Advocate for Minor Leaguers, and migrated to the MLBPA once the union decided to take in the minor leaguers. Advocates for Minor Leaguers was co-founded by Garrett Broshuis, one of the attorneys representing players in the Senne case. Both Broshuis and Marino are ex-minor league pitchers.
The lead negotiators in the minor-league deal were the same as they were in last year’s major-league deal: Bruce Meyer of the MLBPA and Dan Halem of MLB. A top labor lawyer at the MLBPA, Ian Penny, was instrumental in the organizing process as well.
Minor-league lawsuit settlement closer to finalized
Coincidentally, the same day the CBA was tentatively agreed upon, a federal judge in California pushed the $185 million settlement in the Senne case closer to finalization. On average, after attorney’s fees, the settlement would provide about $5,000 to $5,500 per player. More than 20,000 players are involved in the settlement.
A small group of players represented by two attorneys had raised objections to the settlement, but the court ruled those objections lacked merit. Any appeals to the 9th Circuit would have to be filed within 30 days. If no further appeals are filed, players can begin to receive their money shortly afterward. Any appeal would likely, at the least, slow down the process.
“We don’t think the objections that were lodged had any merit and the district court agreed with us,” said Broshuis. “We hope that no appeals take place so players can finally have access to this back pay that they deserve.”
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Samuel Kornhauser, a lawyer representing players who brought objections, could not be immediately reached for comment.
That judge Joseph Spero of the Northern District of California would issue his ruling on the objections the same day minor leaguers reached a tentative agreement on their CBA was not lost on Broshuis.
“It’s crazy that these two things happened at the same time,” Broshuis said. “When I was playing, over a decade ago at this point, it was pretty common for six, seven guys to cram into a two-bedroom apartment, sleeping on air mattresses, some guys skipping breakfast, even lunch, because they had racked up credit card debt.
“Guys would go months without receiving a paycheck, even though they were required to work during periods like spring training and instructional league. This case finally provides some back pay to those thousands of players who had to go through with that … and has really laid the groundwork for greater changes that are now taking place in collective bargaining. It’s tremendous to see that these steps have been taken, and finally, we’re seeing better days for minor-league baseball players.”
(Top photo: Associated Press / Charlie Riedel)
