Minor league umpires plan strike

Officials file charge alleging umps were threatend to be fired

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updated 8:34 p.m. ET March 24, 2006

Minor league umpires plan to strike when the season starts next month and filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.

The Association of Minor League Umpires, which represents about 220 umps in 16 leagues, said it filed the charge in the NRLB’s Florida region, alleging the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation threatened to fire employees who went on strike and asked several of the unionized umps to work as replacements during any strike.

Minor league umpires unionized in 2000.

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“A strike is a serious step and it’s not what we wanted to do,” union president Andy Roberts said in a statement Friday, “but reports of league officials talking about firing umpires who strike has backed us into a corner. The AMLU has to take a stand against PBUC’s heavy-handed tactics.”

George Yund, management’s lawyer, did not return a telephone message seeking comment.

The union said management told the union in February that it thought talks had reached impasse and that it would implement its last offer when the season started. The union’s last proposal, made March 10, was rejected by management three days later.

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Umps say their salaries average $15,000 at Triple-A, $12,000 at Double-A, $10,000 in full-season A-ball and $5,500 in rookie leagues. Yund earlier this month likened minor league umpiring to an educational program rather than a lifetime career.

The union said it would not supply replacement umps to the major leagues during a strike. Minor league umps routinely fill in for major league umpires who are injured or on vacation.