IRVING, Texas, USA (AP) – Major League Baseball appeared to be heading for its first work stoppage in 26 years after a couple of brief bargaining sessions held Tuesday did not lead to any significant progress.
The five-year contract expires at 11:59 pm EDT on Wednesday, and the next step is slated to be a shutdown of the Major League Baseball Players Union.
MLB Executive Vice President Dan Halem and Bruce Meyer, the chief negotiator for the Major League Baseball Players Association, spearheaded the negotiations that took place at the site where the union holds its annual council meeting. Seven equipment owners also attended the two sessions in a hotel, abandoning the first to go to their own headquarters after receiving a proposal from the union. Dozens of players were also there.
At one point in the afternoon, Halem and Meyer emerged from a smaller meeting attended by pitcher and free agent Andrew Miller, a member of the union’s eight-man executive subcommittee, and Dick Monfort, the CEO of the Colorado Rockies and who chairs the MLB labor policy committee.
Players and owners met with each other for just over half an hour on Tuesday.
Major League Baseball hasn’t had a work stoppage since 1994-95. In recent days, contracts for more than a billion dollars have been agreed, while players and teams try to finalize agreements before a work stoppage arrives accompanied by a possible freeze on acquisitions.
Associated Press reporter Ronald Blum contributed to this report.
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