Countdown has started

[cowbyfan1]

Less than 1 month before local association meetings start. When does everyone elses start?

[Carl Childress]

Originally posted by cowbyfan1
Less than 1 month before local association meetings start. When does everyone elses start?

As the Vice-President of my association, that's my job. I'm working on the calendar now. We'll meet in January on Wednesday's: 4, 11, 18, 25, with four in February and two each in March, April, and May.

Our state meeting is 20-22 January in San Antonio.

I have three clinics scheduled for our local group (plate, bases, 4-man - used for all playoffs) and two for my district.

I'll also be the clinician for a District 7 and 9 combined clinic in McKinney, 4 February.

On the other hand, the local ADs turned down our negotiated fee, and our association voted unanimously not to call games this year. We're the only association within 180 miles, so the Youth umpires are going to get a chance to show what they can do.

In JV only.

The superintendent of each school must submit a letter of explanation to the UIL if that school did not use TASO-trained officials.

'Twill be an interesting spring!

[lawump]

Carl...interesting post.

First, as to the original post...we start here in the midlands of SC on Sunday, January 8. We'll go two hours every Sunday for six Sundays. We'll then have 3 on-field clinics on Saturdays...plus we have a state clinic on a Wednesday in February (where the test is given)...plus every member must work two scrimmages before the regular season.

Carl, we went through a similar situation with our local association this off-season. Our umpires (according to a Referee Magazine article, and according to various posts on the various internet boards) were the lowest paid umpires in the nation at around $35 a game. And frankly we were sick of it.

The South Carolina High School League says in their manual that umpires are to be paid $35 a game (or somewhere around that...I forget the exact amount but it was within a dollar or two of $35). Our local association (including myself as Vice-President) felt that we were grossly underpaid compared to umpires in neighboring states and compared to other officials in other sports in our state.

To solve this problem, I noted that the same SC High School League manual goes to great lengths to tell us that we (umpires) are independent contractors and not employees of the League.

So, I gave a legal opinion that the High School League's statement in their manual (that we were to be paid $35 a game) only constituted an "offer" and that we (our association) were rejecting that offer.

We then sent a letter directly to the 27 schools we serviced offering to provide umpires for their games at a new fee of $50, $55 or $60 depending on the school's location. While we were professional and cordial in our letter...we pretty much made it clear that it was a "take-it-or-leave-it" situation.

As I pointed out to our association board of directors: while it was possible that some schools on the outskirts of our territory could leave us and go with another association, the vast majority of the schools have to use either us or youth league umpires.

So, in addition to my legal opinion to our board of directors, I also gave a business opinion that the "supply-and-demand" model was way out of whack. Simply put: there is high demand for our services, but we're the only association who could supply the services we provided.

Needless to say, of the 27 schools, we had one complaint...and that school was an "outlier" school that decided to go with another association.

So now we have 26 schools paying $50-$60 a game instead of 27 paying around $35. I'll take that swap any day of the week.

Just another war story from the local association battle front.

[David B]

Originally posted by Carl Childress

As the Vice-President of my association, that's my job. I'm working on the calendar now. We'll meet in January on Wednesday's: 4, 11, 18, 25, with four in February and two each in March, April, and May.

Our state meeting is 20-22 January in San Antonio.

I have three clinics scheduled for our local group (plate, bases, 4-man - used for all playoffs) and two for my district.

I'll also be the clinician for a District 7 and 9 combined clinic in McKinney, 4 February.

On the other hand, the local ADs turned down our negotiated fee, and our association voted unanimously not to call games this year. We're the only association within 180 miles, so the Youth umpires are going to get a chance to show what they can do.

In JV only.

The superintendent of each school must submit a letter of explanation to the UIL if that school did not use TASO-trained officials.

'Twill be an interesting spring!

Every year we fight the same battles. Football and basketball officials make $55 and up per night, while baseball umpires settle for $40 - 45 per night.

We had just about gotten all of our local schools to go three man for district games, but they are backpedaling quickly for this season.

We have some of the best baseball in the state and the games have big crowds but they continue to complain that they don't have enought revenue to pay the umpires ... go figure.

As you stated, ought to be interesting to see if they come around or go backwards.

Thanks
David

[Carl Childress]

Originally posted by lawump
Carl...interesting post.

First, as to the original post...we start here in the midlands of SC on Sunday, January 8. We'll go two hours every Sunday for six Sundays. We'll then have 3 on-field clinics on Saturdays...plus we have a state clinic on a Wednesday in February (where the test is given)...plus every member must work two scrimmages before the regular season.

Carl, we went through a similar situation with our local association this off-season. Our umpires (according to a Referee Magazine article, and according to various posts on the various internet boards) were the lowest paid umpires in the nation at around $35 a game. And frankly we were sick of it.

The South Carolina High School League says in their manual that umpires are to be paid $35 a game (or somewhere around that...I forget the exact amount but it was within a dollar or two of $35). Our local association (including myself as Vice-President) felt that we were grossly underpaid compared to umpires in neighboring states and compared to other officials in other sports in our state.

To solve this problem, I noted that the same SC High School League manual goes to great lengths to tell us that we (umpires) are independent contractors and not employees of the League.

So, I gave a legal opinion that the High School League's statement in their manual (that we were to be paid $35 a game) only constituted an "offer" and that we (our association) were rejecting that offer.

We then sent a letter directly to the 27 schools we serviced offering to provide umpires for their games at a new fee of $50, $55 or $60 depending on the school's location. While we were professional and cordial in our letter...we pretty much made it clear that it was a "take-it-or-leave-it" situation.

As I pointed out to our association board of directors: while it was possible that some schools on the outskirts of our territory could leave us and go with another association, the vast majority of the schools have to use either us or youth league umpires.

So, in addition to my legal opinion to our board of directors, I also gave a business opinion that the "supply-and-demand" model was way out of whack. Simply put: there is high demand for our services, but we're the only association who could supply the services we provided.

Needless to say, of the 27 schools, we had one complaint...and that school was an "outlier" school that decided to go with another association.

So now we have 26 schools paying $50-$60 a game instead of 27 paying around $35. I'll take that swap any day of the week.

Just another war story from the local association battle front.

Texas athletics is governed by the University Interscholastic League (UIL), which sets a maximum fee. Schools may pay less if officials agree. We get $40 for varsity games, a percentage of the gate (schools often don't pay that) and mileage at state rate (48.5 a mile this year).

Our proposal was for:

Varsity
$40 game fee (state mandated)
$10 gate (regardless of number of paid admissions)
$25 mileage (regardless of the distance travelled)

Subvarsity
$40 game fee
$25 mileage (regardless of the distance travelled)

They replied:

No, to everything. Instead, they said:
Straight UIL maximums for varsity except they had no intention of paying the state-mandated mileage allotment: "Hey, the school boards set our mileage limits, not the state."

They agreed to raise the subvarsity from $25 and $30 to $35.

No dice with us.

We have two associations in our area. We agreed to negotiate collectively and voted to turn down the "counter offer."

We've given them the phone numbers of the two nearest chapters. One is in Alice (120 miles from the center of our area) and Corpus Christi (150 miles from the center). For some schools, you could add 40 miles. Those are one- way distances. If two officials from Corpus called a game in Edinburg, the home school would owe the two-person crew $225.50 - if the other chapters had sufficient umpires.)

We serve 44 schools and one juvenile detention center.

The UIL requires the superintendent of schools to notifiy the state whenever a varsity contest is officiated by anyone other than a TASO (our officials state organization) member.

They may legally hire scabs (youth ball uumpires and coaches) for their JV, but they will have great difficulty finding "legal" umpires for their varsity.

Scrimmages start the first week in February. We won't call those because the UIL constitution states that if a chapter accepts scrimmages (which are paid at $50 for three hours), the chapter must provide umpires for JV and varsity.

The point: We asked the UIL office in Austin whether our proposal was within UIL guidelines.

They assured us it was.

Both chapters are meeting on 22 December to finalize our answer.

We live in interesting times.

Edited to explain what UIL means.

[Edited by Carl Childress on Dec 13th, 2005 at 11:19 AM]

[lawump]

Please tell me what UIL stands for...sorry if I appear ignorant.

[David B]

Originally posted by Carl Childress

Texas athletics is governed by the UIL, which sets a maximum fee. Schools may pay less if officials agree. We get $40 for varsity games, a percentage of the gate (schools often don't pay that) and mileage at state rate (48.5 a mile this year).

Our proposal was for:

Varsity
$40 game fee (state mandated)
$10 gate (regardless of number of paid admissions)
$25 mileage (regardless of the distance travelled)

Subvarsity
$40 game fee
$25 mileage (regardless of the distance travelled)

They replied:

No, to everything. Instead, they said:
Straight UIL maximums for varsity except they had no intention of paying the state-mandated mileage allotment: "Hey, the school boards set our mileage limits, not the state."

They agreed to raise the subvarsity from $25 and $30 to $35.

No dice with us.

We have two associations in our area. We agreed to negotiate collectively and voted to turn down the "counter offer."

We've given them the phone numbers of the two nearest chapters. One is in Alice (120 miles from the center of our area) and Corpus Christi (150 miles from the center). For some schools, you could add 40 miles. Those are one- way distances. If two officials from Corpus called a game in Edinburg, the home school would owe the two-person crew $225.50 - if the other chapters had sufficient umpires.)

We serve 44 schools and one juvenile detention center.

The UIL requires that the superintendent of schools to notifiy the state whenever a varsity contest is officiated by anyone other than a TASO (our officials state organization) member.

They may legally hite scabs (youth ball uumpires and coaches) for their JV, but they will have great difficulty finding "legal" umpires for their varsity.

Scrimmages start the first week in February. We won't call those because the UIL constitution states that if a chapter accepts scrimmages (which are paid at $50 for three hours), the chapter must provide umpires for JV and varsity.

The point: We asked the UIL office in Austin whether our proposal was within UIL guidelines.

They assured us it was.

Both chapters are meeting on 22 December to finalize our answer.

We live in interesting times.

Doesn't make sense for the schools. That sounds right from the officials point of view. I know when I was in TX in 80's they paid mileage and it makes a big difference since you had to drive many times 100 miles + just for one game.

And now that gas has gone sky high, our association is also thinking about adding a mileage fee.. I can't afford to sacrifice my time and my family time if I'm not going to be compensated for it.

I look forward to hearing what happens

Thanks
David

[Skahtboi]

Originally posted by lawump
Please tell me what UIL stands for...sorry if I appear ignorant.

University Interscholastic League. Here in Texas, they are the body that governs student competition, among other things.

[HeyBlue01]

In Northern Nevada (at least NorthWestern Nevada), we get $40 per JV game and $55 per Varsity game. We also get 36 cents/mile when driving and 18 cents/mile when riding. We do a lot of games that are a ways out, so we carpool those games.

[Rich]

Carl:

The IRS mileage rate for 2006 has been set at 44.5 cents per mile, exactly halfway between the January 1, 2005 rate of 40.5 cents and the September 1 emergency rate of 48.5 cents.

--Rich

[SanDiegoSteve]

You guys with the big travel fees have it made. Here we get $2 a game added for travel, with exceptions for out of town games, which have a $10 maximum for one vehicle only. So, if we travel from San Diego to Borrego Springs (over 100 miles, about half way to Arizona), we ride together, and the driver gets the whopping $10 for gas. We try to negotiate for more, but like in Texas, they usually say a resounding "no."

[Carl Childress]

Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser
Carl:

The IRS mileage rate for 2006 has been set at 44.5 cents per mile, exactly halfway between the January 1, 2005 rate of 40.5 cents and the September 1 emergency rate of 48.5 cents.

--Rich

We don't use the IRS rate. Our rate is set by the Texas Comptroller.

[Carl Childress]

Originally posted by SanDiegoSteve
You guys with the big travel fees have it made. Here we get $2 a game added for travel, with exceptions for out of town games, which have a $10 maximum for one vehicle only. So, if we travel from San Diego to Borrego Springs (over 100 miles, about half way to Arizona), we ride together, and the driver gets the whopping $10 for gas. We try to negotiate for more, but like in Texas, they usually say a resounding "no."

They've told us know to our fee negotiations. So we have said no tlo their games.

[umpbrian]

We will start here on January 11th with several meetings in January and February and then back to one a month the rest of the year with clinics on weekends about once per month. Sorry to hear that you guys have been having problems with your local associations and their negotiations with the schools. We just successfully received a raise from our area schools to $50 for a single game, $75 for 10 innings, $85 for 12 innings and $95 for 14 innings scheduled. We do not charge a mileage fee for most of our schools as they are less than a 1 hour drive and have just included it in the base fee. I certainly hope that the schools come around and realize that you need to be paid for the job that you do.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally posted by Carl Childress

They've told us know to our fee negotiations. So we have said no tlo their games.

Carl,

You probably have bargaining power over them, while we here have none. There are several umpire groups here which, pooled together, could easily handle the 81 high schools in San Diego County. They would tell us to take a hike, and we would be out of luck for working any games, since we already had the college ball yanked away years ago.