[lawump]

As to the argument: "they only work 5 months a year so they are being paid adequately."

First, they work March through September = 7 months.

But, they don't work normal days. They work 7 days a week during those months. They get no vacations. No trips home. They live their job for the entire season.

They may have 1 or 2 scheduled days off...but they can loose those if the league schedules make-up games due to rain, etc.

A full-season MiLB umpire will work 140 regular season games + 4 weeks (28 games, give or take) of spring training + (possibly) 7 post-season games.

That's 175 work days in seven months or so. (With no vacations and no holidays)

Now let's look at someone who works a traditional 9 to 5 Monday through
Friday job.

There are 260 weekdays (potential work days) in 2006.

Now subtract the holidays most workers get. (New Year's Day, MLK Day, President's Day, Good Friday or Easter Monday, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving Day and Friday, Christmas Eve and Day).

That's 12 holidays (if you make the assumption that a worker gets Good Friday or Easter Monday off, but not both.) We're down to 248 work days.

Now let's add state holidays. Of course this varies from state to state. Massachusetts (and Maine) has Patriot Day. South Carolina has Confederate Memorial Day. Other states have other holidays. I'll guess (yes, its a guess) that the average is one a year. We're down to 247.

Now let's add in a two-week vacation (-10 days) and one-week of sick leave (-5 days). I got these figures from all the entry level jobs I've ever had. That gets us to 232.

That's 232 work days vs. 175. Or a minor league umpire's annual number of work days are 75% of a "traditional" worker's annual number of work days. This is far different than "they work 5 months instead of 12" which suggests they work 41.6% as much as a "traditional" worker.

Of course, as a "traditional worker" moves up the ladder his/her vacation and sick leave usually goes up. Since, a pro umpire gets absolutely NO leave time until he makes it to MLB...I would say its fair to conclude that a 10-year AAA pro umpire's annual number of work days are even closer to the annual number of work days for a "traditional worker" who is a 10-year veteran with a company.

I'm not suggesting that a MiLB umpire works as many days as a "traditional worker"...but the gap between these two groups is a lot smaller than others might suggest.

(Edit: Again, my posts below should show my mea culpa for forgetting that umpires are paid separately for spring training. (I've been out of the game too long) They get paid a pittance during spring training that is in addition to their salary. But, as I said below, even though they may not be required to work spring training under the CBA, they are in reality required if they desire to be promoted. Thus the 175 work days argument I stated above is valid...only its at $15,000 + (pittance payed by host team) for those 7 months for a AAA umpire.)