It’s International Workers Day, or May Day, or Labour Day depending on where in the world you are while reading this. MLB’s players are workers, they’re labor: they’re in the Major League Baseball Players Association because they’re not only the product sold by Major League Baseball, but because they’re also the labor force that holds the entire enterprise up.
On this May Day, remember that labor peace is a lie
Tuesday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at an international holiday that pertains to MLB’s working class, too.
Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
The ruling class is always seeking to undermine the working class (hell, “Loyalty Day” is the latest effort to undermine May Day, an international day with roots in the United States, announced by the current president) and while the working class in baseball includes multi-millionaires, things are no different for MLB’s labor force. All labor peace in MLB history has been a lie, as it’s not peace of any kind: it’s simply the time in between negotiations where ownership regroups to figure out how they can scale back the gains of the players.
Look at this past offseason — yeah, sorry, that topic isn’t going away anytime soon. MLB outmaneuvered the MLBPA every step of the way in the last collective bargaining negotiations, and it wasn’t overly difficult with executive director Tony Clark leading a group that focused on amenities over things that actually matter, like the rights of players and the money they should be paid. They should have focused on bread and roses, not one or the other.
Bud Selig threw the MLBPA and former executive director Donald Fehr under the bus when the government asked about steroid use in baseball, solely to give the owners an edge in CBA negotiations (as Jon Pessah so wonderfully explained in The Game). The Blue Ribbon committee Selig authorized before the turn of the century purposefully delivered misleading information to make fans worried that the rising salaries of players were killing baseball, and as a bonus, the media bought the lines, as well. Much in the same way MLB’s owners are hoping the media buys into what they say about paying minor-league players, too.
Like unions and workers everywhere, the MLBPA and its members have been undermined and pushed around. This offseason, though, has maybe changed that, as they’ve been pushed too far, and are ready to push back. We’re seeing this in industries other than in sports — the classic unionized industries, of course, but also in new arenas like digital media. It’s important, then, to recognize what all of this means, and why it’s happening in baseball and beyond. And there’s no better time to start, or reaffirm, or reconnect with all of that than May Day.
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- Mike Schmidt made a stupid #MeToo joke on the Phillies’ broadcast, and The Good Phight is ready for someone to take his mic away.
- Sam Miller wants to know what would happen if every MLB team made the postseason.
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