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Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.
Its not even a matter of whether one is pro-union or anti-union. It is just plain unethical and unprofessional for other officials to be umpiring these games while their officiating brethen are trying to bargin for better working conditions.
MTD, Sr.
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Whoa, padnah'...it seems you've gotten tangled in your reins!
Here's a test: What is more unethical...
1) Posting the photographs, names, addresses and emails of the replacement umpires to further the terrorizing of those 'brethren'?
2) Making veiled threats that umpires may find their automobiles vandalized?
3) Threatening to blackball them within their local organizations?
You continue to dismiss these replacements as taking money out of the pockets of the 'real' minor league umpires. The 'real' umpires made the decision to not work those games. They walked away from their responsibilities and opportunities. The replacements often need the money just as much. Their bills seem to be less important than the AMLU guys' in your opinion.
The AMLU gang made a tactical error. Amateur umpiring has reached exceptional levels. Better schooling, desire and resources have shrunk the disparity that once existed between the ranks. They continue to resist the notion that they have been successfully replaced. PBUC has always had the upper hand and it is a shame that the AMLU guys failed to realize it. They blinked...
I do not like unions. Often they create better training programs and offer assistance to those who may need it. However, they also create a sense of complacency and mediocrity. That is not to say that some union members aren't prideful and provide superior services for the money. More often than not, the world see unions as greedy and corrupt. The better members are glossed over and forgotten. This is a case that displays terrible strategy and even worse bargaining skills. It is not Christmas and they weren't going to right a decades long wrong in one fell swoop.
Being anti-union does not make me hate the individual member umpire. I take issue with the way they have collectively tried to defame the amateur umpire. Indivdually, I have taken issue with Jim Shaw and Clint Lawson for pretending that this is only about economics. It is about power and desire to be recognized as more than trainees. The system pays them what they are worth. In an irony not lost on me, the replacements are making better salaries than some regulars. Do you still wonder why they crossed the picket line? Maybe that replacement umpire knows that his twenty games will pay for Junior's orthodonture or Missy's school clothes. I know, they are just 'scabs' who are taking advantage of someone else's misfortune. Keep telling yourself that...we all make choices based on what is important to our families. I don't call up the husbands of old girlfriends, shout names and threaten them for stealing relationships though. Stop trying to justify what they are doing as professional.
Go check out that AMLU roster again and see how many are married and have children. You'll be very surprised at what you see.