[JIGGY]

Originally Posted by WhatWuzThatBlue

When the AMLU instructed the membership not to accept Spring Training assignments, they abandoned their right to argue further.

In the other thread, I and others have told you - you don't need a contract to work! For some reason, 220 of you feel compelled to demand one. Long ago, we signed individual contracts within the BUD program. We did this because we wanted the job and chance to prove that we deserved the opportunity to move up. Yes, we agreed to bad pay, conditions and benefits - we did so because we understood our place in the game.

Even your leadership recently commented that the members are doing okay because they have other jobs to pay the bills. Maybe it is just me, but if Andy and the gang want to push the idea that thus really IS a career, they might want to rethink that strategy. PBUC knows that they have a Royal Flush and the union is bluffing. The umpiring is not bad enough to warrant an uprising. According to MiLB, six ejections were handed out in all of AA and AAA in the past two weeks. That is four less than last year at the same time.

The leagues, teams and skippers have been admonished and told to behave themselves. The best NCAA umpires will wrap up their seasons long before the playoffs begin and become available. Then the naysayers will have to watch the guys who already earned a nice paycheck take the plums.

I can't believe the photos on the AMLU site either. They crossed a line by publishing them and veiling threats. I hope they have a good understanding of the way the game of politics is played. They may consider themselves on the way up now, but some day (maybe sooner than they expect) they will be just like everyone else. It looked cold in some of those photos of the picket line. That's a shame...they may be out there longer than the know.

The more you post, the more it becomes apparent that you don't have a clue what you are talking about and are simply speaking from emotion and ill will towards the AMLU umpires.

The whole point of creating the union, the whole point of going on strike, is to improve conditions for Minor League Umpires. You seem to think that because conditions are bad when they started, the AMLU umpires should just expect and deal with things being bad forever. There is no chance of the union being broken, the level of umpiring brought by the Scab umpires IS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO ANYONE IN MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. Not the players, coaches, managers, GM's, Farm Directors, nobody! There are "gag" orders and instructions to not argue in effect across the board for that very reason. If everything were really OK, Minor League Baseball wouldn't have to handcuff the clubs that way. Only you and Fitz would really believe that a lower number of ejections directly equals better umpiring. The opposite is actually true in this case. The players and managers have commented to the fact that they are "getting away with" far more nonsense than usual.

PBUC simply does not have the means, long term, to staff the Minor League fields without the AMLU 220. Contrary to what Minor League Baseball has attempted to convey in the press, it has not been easy for many leagues to line up umpires at all, not to mention the lack of competency across the board with Scab umpires. Do you really not understand the basic business principals at work here? A union strike is exactly what is happening now. What makes you think this isn't what the AMLU intended? How is it that you see the AMLU as in a lesser bargaining position now than before the season started? As far as your statement about going to work without a contract...? You must not understand the basics here. The point of a union is to collectively bargain, not individually act. It is each individual putting the whole before himself to reap the benefits of what can be accomplished together that is so much greater than what can be accomplished individually. What happens when a scab gets a concussion? Breaks an ankle? PBUC does not (and will never) provide them even the meager benefits given the AMLU under the previous contract.

How long do you think the novelty of "I'm working pro baseball" will last before the reality of "I'm in over my head, and with nothing to show for it" kicks in? Those that are going to scab are doing it, and not necessarily to the detriment of the AMLU. If you wish to cross, do it, but your attempts at justifying why its OK to do so are misinformed and illogical. Bottom line, every man makes a decision, but what do you really stand to gain by getting in the middle of a fight that isn't yours? You can't say money. You can't say prestige or glory; you would be a scab, regardless of how you try to spin it. It boils down to stabbing another guy in the back because you want to prove you are just as good as he is. Fine. ALL UMPIRES ARE EXACTLY EQUAL. Does that remove the feeling of "I'm gonna show them!" ? What if you were just as good as any professional umpire? So what? You still just jumped in the middle of something that didn't involve you and stabbed another man in the back for having done it. No scab deserves to be on those fields. They didn't earn those positions. That is the disgusting part of the whole thing. The Scabs are making fools of themselves and acting important while doing it. Minor League Baseball didn't call any of them last season. There is a reason for that. You should be ashamed at the possibility of your words influencing another to act so foolishly.