Major League Baseball has asked for a federal mediator to help resolve a two-month contract dispute with the MLB Players Association, one which threatens to disrupt the start of preseason workouts.
A report on the MLB website said Thursday that the league has turned to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to help move along talks that have stalled since owners locked out players in December after the expiration of their prior collective bargaining agreement.
The union must agree to mediation to allow such participation in the talks.
Federal mediation to improve communications between sides in a labor dispute has resolved other sport disputes in recent years involving the NFL, Major League Soccer and the NHL.
Mediators were used in 2010 in MLB talks with the players union without a work stoppage.
Pre-season training camps were first scheduled to start on February 16, but that isn’t expected to happen.
There had been more hope about starting pre-season MLB games on February 26 as scheduled but that has become less likely as talked as dragged with no progress on major issues in the dispute over how to divide billions in revenue.
The union and MLB met Tuesday to negotiate major economic issues with owners expected to make the next proposals.
Those might not come until after next week’s scheduled owners’ meetings in Orlando, Florida.
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times