Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 24, 1994 TAG: 9412280054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Medium
The last time the Major League Umpires Association had a problem with its contract, general counsel Richie Phillips threw a chair through a wall at management lawyer Robert Kheel's firm.
``I'm probably going to have to put a table through a wall this time,'' Phillips said Thursday.
Phillips filed charges against the American and National leagues with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging they have failed to bargain in good faith.
Umpires, who are paid year-round, won't be paid after Jan.1, Phillips said. Kheel said owners on Tuesday offered a no lockout, no strike pledge, but no decision had been made.
``The position that they're taking evidences a lack of responsibility or a lack of concern for the credibility of baseball,'' Phillips said. ``Anarchy reigns at the other side of the table.
``They can take a hard-line position as long as there's snow on the ground. But come April, they're going to need the umpires.''
The chair-through-the-wall incident happened in 1991, hours before the contract was signed on Opening Day, at Kheel's law firm, Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
Umpires struck the first seven weeks of the 1979 season and for seven playoff games in 1984.
In 1994, umpires made from $60,000 to $175,000, depending on seniority. Under the four-year agreement that expires Dec.31, they also receive an additional $10,000 to $20,000 each from the postseason bonus pool, a total of $1.2 million.
Phillips said the doubling of the postseason pool was asked for because the expanded playoffs will double the number of postseason games.
AL president Gene Budig said the proposals didn't take ``into account the tenor of the times.''
The current deal calls for umpires to be paid for the first 75 days of a players' strike.
Umpires asked for a 60 percent salary increase, a doubling of the bonus pool and an increase in their severance package from $200,000 to $500,000.
``We reviewed the proposals with disbelief, regarding them as extraordinary in their largesse given the realities of the day,'' NL president Len Coleman said.
Phillips said umpires had offered to accept a fixed percent of revenue - the deal owners want players to accept - but said management refused.
``Richie has never seriously pursued any options other than the ones in his proposal,'' Kheel said from New York.
Teams refused to pay postseason bonuses this year because the postseason wasn't played. Phillips said owners this month doubled Social Security and other taxes withheld from umpires' monthly paychecks.
by CNB