Catherwood LibraryILR School

Starting at 10:00 am this morning, the executive board of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) and representatives from all thirty teams began a conference call in which they are expected to set an August 30 strike date in their ongoing negotiations with team owners. As expected, the issue of a luxury tax on payrolls above a certain limit have proven to be the sticking point in negotiations (see yesterday?s WIT), with the owners and players still $29 million apart on the cutoff salary and twenty percent apart on the tax rate on pay above that limit. A World Series ending strike like that experienced in 1994 is still far from inevitable, however, with the two sides already having agreed on raises to the minimum salaries for both major and minor leaguers, time limits on deferred compensation and improved benefits for players.