MLB Players Association campaigning to unionize minor league players

The Major League Baseball Players Association announced on Monday that it has launched a campaign to unionize minor league players.

Union authorization cards have been sent out to minor leaguers to form a separate bargaining team from the big league players following the union’s executive board unanimously approving the new initiative, the first of its kind, on Friday.

“Minor Leaguers represent our game’s future and deserve wages and working conditions that befit elite athletes who entertain millions of baseball fans nationwide,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said in an official statement. “They’re an important part of our fraternity and we want to help them achieve their goals both on and off the field.”

The authorization cards were sent out to between 5,000 and 6,000 minor league players, and 30% approval would allow the MLBPA to move forward with a petition to the National Labor Relations Board to ask for the new union.

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“This generation of Minor League Players has demonstrated an unprecedented ability to address workplace issues with a collective voice,” Harry Marino, outgoing executive director of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, whose members all quit and work for the MLBPA. “Joining with the most powerful union in professional sports assures that this voice is heard where it matters most — at the bargaining table.”

The MLBPA has been negotiating terms for major league players as well as those on options to the minor leagues since 1981.

The average major league salary is more than $4 million while minor league contracts can be as little as $400 per week. That is at the rookie and short-season level, but the increments don’t improve much: $500 minimum per week at Class A, $600 at Double-A and $700 at Triple-A.

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MLB did require teams to provide housing for most minor leaguers in their farm systems this year.

“This organizing campaign is an investment in the future of our game and our Player fraternity,” Clark said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.