A player lockout puts Major League Baseballs labor issues on full display

Published: Dec. 14, 2021, 9:07 p.m.

b'Ending 26 years of "labor peace," Major League Baseball is in the midst of a national lockout. With league owners failing to address the core contract issues raised by the Major League Baseball Players Association, the previous collective bargaining agreement expired at the beginning of this month. In an open letter to baseball fans, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stated, "Despite the league\'s best efforts to make a deal with the Players Association, we were unable to extend our 26-year-long history of labor peace and come to an agreement with the MLBPA before the current CBA expired. Therefore, we have been forced to commence a lockout of Major League players, effective at 12:01 am ET on December 2." Has the league made its "best efforts" to bargain in good faith? Were wealthy team owners really "forced to commence a lockout"? It sure doesn\\u2019t look that way\\u2026

In this episode of Working People, we\'re joined by Alex Bazeley and Bobby Wagner, hosts of the podcast Tipping Pitches, to break down the labor politics in today\'s MLB and what the lockout means for players and fans alike.

Additional links/info below...

Tipping Pitches website, Twitter page, and fan shop:
https://pod.link/1265588219
https://twitter.com/tipping_pitches
https://tippingpitches.myshopify.com/
Alex\'s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/a_bazeley
Bobby\'s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/bwags
Dayn Perry, CBS Sports, "MLB lockout: Fact-Checking Commissioner Rob Manfred\'s Open Letter to Baseball Fans": https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-lockout-fact-checking-commissioner-rob-manfreds-open-letter-to-baseball-fans/
James Wagner, The New York Times, "M.L.B.\\u2019s Lockout: What Is It? How Does It Work? What\\u2019s Next?": https://www.nytimes.com/article/mlb-lockout.html
Nathan Kalman-Lamb & Dirk Hayhurst, Jacobin, "\'Inside the Game, You Are Still a Commodity\'": https://jacobinmag.com/2019/03/minor-league-baseball-pay-labor
Working People, "Mini-cast: Suicide Squeeze (w/ Nathan Kalman-Lamb)": https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93b3JraW5ncGVvcGxlLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz/episode/MWUxZWMwZTFlZTFlNDAxZWE3MzQ4M2FkYjQ2MTg1ZTU?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiwx8jJg-L0AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQCg&hl=en

Kellogg\'s strike links/info below...

Working People YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7bOmS4Ohll4C10ZX-lsGlg
Look for updates on the Dec. 17 livestream/fundraiser on the Working People Twitter page and Morning Riot Twitter page:
https://twitter.com/WorkingPod
https://twitter.com/morningriotpod
Maximilian Alvarez, The Real News Network, \\u201cBreakfast of champions: Kellogg\'s cereal workers strike for employees who have been left behind\\u201d: https://therealnews.com/striking-kelloggs-workers-show-the-country-what-solidarity-looks-like
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "How companies like Kellogg\\u2019s are weaponizing the courts to break strikes": https://therealnews.com/how-companies-like-kelloggs-are-weaponizing-the-courts-to-break-strikes
Mel Buer, The Real News Network, \\u201cKellogg\\u2019s strike: Cereal plant workers fight to raise the floor for all employees as sales soar\\u201d: https://therealnews.com/kelloggs-strike-cereal-plant-workers-fight-to-raise-the-floor-for-all-employees-as-sales-soar
Mel Buer, The Real News Network, \\u201cKellogg\\u2019s strikers hold the line and prepare for winter\\u201d: https://therealnews.com/kelloggs-strikers-hold-the-line-and-prepare-for-winter
Sahid Fawaz, Labor 411, "Five Ways To Support The Kellogg Strike": https://labor411.org/411-blog/five-ways-to-support-the-kellogg-strike/

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):
Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"

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