Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 31, 1995 TAG: 9501310165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Owners began arriving Monday night and management's negotiating committee was scheduled to meet today. The union's negotiating committee met for about six hours Monday and about 60 players were expected for an executive board meeting today. Talks resume on Wednesday.
``We'll see what they've got to offer,'' Detroit's Cecil Fielder said. ``If they don't have anything to offer, then we're just going to be talking about the same old things. What they have on the table isn't anything worth considering.''
Talks broke off Dec.22, a day before owners implemented a salary cap. When negotiations collapsed, management was insisting on a luxury tax plan designed to eventually reduce the percentage of revenue going to players from 58 percent to 50 percent. The union's last tax plan was designed to ensure the discrepancy in payrolls between large and small markets didn't get any larger.
Chuck O'Connor, management's chief lawyer, said there wouldn't be any ``major changes'' in the new proposal owners intend to make Wednesday.
``We're going to talk about it with our committee tomorrow,'' he said. ``We're going to put a menu before them.''
If that's the case, mediator W.J. Usery will have a difficult time producing a breakthrough that would end the strike, which began Aug.12.
``If we get a proposal from them that is not significantly different from the last one, our response will not be significantly different from our last one,'' union head Donald Fehr said.
Last Thursday, Clinton ordered talks to resume and set a Feb.6 deadline for progress toward a deal. If there isn't any, the president said he will ask Usery to formulate his own proposal for a solution.
While Clinton can't force a settlement, he can lobby for one. He also could ask Congress to enact one as law.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. John LaFalce introduced a bill to establish a seven-member National Commission on Professional Baseball. The panel would have power to impose a settlement and to settle all disputes among major-league owners and between major- and minor-league owners. It would have subpoena power and could make any financial record public.
``We will have the equivalent of compulsory arbitration to resolve the short-term problems and get major-league baseball on the fields again,'' the New York Democrat said, ``followed by an in-depth study of how we can organize baseball at all levels under conditions that provide future stability.''
When the union's executive board meets today, among the items on the agenda will be whether to lift the signing freeze. No player has signed a major-league contract since owners implemented the salary cap.
``I think it's a very close call,'' agent Tom Reich said. ``If I had to guess right now, I'd have to guess that the freeze will continue on. As long as they [union leadership] believe it enhances their position, we have to support it.''
by CNB