Nothing short of a deal will deter the executive board of baseball's players union from setting a strike date Monday, people familiar with the union's thinking said yesterday.þþAnd what are the chances that negotiators for the players and the team owners can reach agreement on a new labor contract by Monday?þþÿI'm not prepared to say it's likely, but it's not out of the realm of possibility,ÿ one of those familiar with the union's thinking said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.þþAnother person who is also in position to follow developments closely said: ÿI don't think there's too little time between now and Monday. I just don't think it's likely.ÿþþWith agreement reached yesterday on minimum salary and financing of the benefit plan, the two sides continued to make serious progress toward an overall collective bargaining agreement. But revenue sharing, a luxury tax and a worldwide draft, the three critical issues, remain unresolved.þþThe players do not want to go into the off-season without a new agreement because they are convinced that the owners would then declare an impasse in negotiations, put in place their economic system of choice and maybe lock out the players for added insult. Donald Fehr, the union chief, has often said that the players know all too well about the National Basketball Association's lockouts in the last decade.þþThat's why the union's executive board, made up of player representatives from the 30 teams and two leagues and at-large members, is prepared to set a strike date at its meeting in Chicago on Monday. No date has been specified, but it would most likely be in the last 10 days of the month.þþThe mere setting of a date would not automatically mean that the players would strike. The union's act would create a negotiating deadline. The threat of a date has served as something of a deadline itself.þþAsked yesterday if the knowledge that a date could be set had driven the talks, Rob Manfred, the clubs' chief labor lawyer, said: ÿWhenever you're doing an agreement, there are points that become focus points in terms of attempting to reach an agreement to avoid this or that happening. And clearly the parties have focused on this meeting Monday as a point in the process, and we worked hard against that deadline.ÿ þþNegotiators have not held bargaining sessions during weekends in these talks, but Manfred said he expected that they would meet this weekend. ÿMy hope is we're at a point in the process where we'll continue through the weekend,ÿ he said.þþThe two sides have settled a raft of non-core issues in an effort to maintain momentum toward an overall agreement. They have made progress on revenue sharing and the amateur draft and have spent the least amount of time on a luxury, or payroll, tax. ÿThere hasn't been any serious discussion on it,ÿ one negotiator said. The owners' proposal would levy a 50 percent tax on portions of payrolls over $98 million. The players have not made a counterproposal, saying only that the tax, in combination with revenue sharing, could serve as a payroll cap, which they oppose.þþOne owner has said the clubs expect to get a major payroll tax, but people associated with the union scoffed at that. Those two views could represent a fatal difference to an agreement, certainly by Monday.þþIf the two sides soften their stances, time would not necessarily prevent them from working out an acceptable tax before Monday. The tax that existed in the expired agreement was negotiated in about a 12-hour period around this time in 1996.þþBargaining has moved the players and owners much closer on revenue sharing than on a luxury tax, but the union will not go much, if any, further until it knows what develops with the tax. þþIn the last 10 days to two weeks, negotiators have narrowed the gap on the amount of local revenue to be transferred from wealthier clubs to poorer clubs to about $49 million from $70 million. But they have discussed the matter enough to feel that the gap is significantly less than $49 million.þþThere is no longer a gap in the proposals on minimum salary. The clubs started by proposing that the minimum raise to $285,000 from $200,000 next season with a cost-of-living adjustment every other year after that. The union wanted $300,000 retroactive to this season with a $25,000 increase every year after.þþThe two sides agreed yesterday to $300,000 for next season and 2004, then a two-year cost-of-living adjustment for 2005 and again for 2006.þþThe minor league minimum for a player on a split major league-minor league contract was increased to $50,000 from $40,500.þþThe two sides also agreed on the amount of money the clubs would spend annually for the benefit plan. Manfred said it was increased from the current $72 million but declined to say what the amount would be.þþþþ
Source: NY Times
