According to sources, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association finalized a card-check agreement on Saturday that will make the union the bargaining representative for a unit of minor league players.
The latest step in the rapid unionization of minor league players is the agreement in which the MLBPA will give union-authorization cards to be counted by a neutral arbiter.
The parties want to reach an agreement before the minor league season starts in 2020.
The MLBPA is representing a wide swath of minor league players, including all who play, as a result of the league's voluntary recognition of their desire to unionize.
President Joe Biden and other politicians praised the league's decision to recognize unions, despite the labor landscape in which some large corporations have engaged in anti-union drives.
President Biden thanked the Minor League Baseball players and the MLB and MLBPA for taking this critical step. On the job and on the field, every worker has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
Without recognition, the MLBPA would have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board and earned status as the bargaining representative with a vote of more than 50% of players who voted. The league chose to recognize the unionization of minor leaguers under the umbrella of the MLBPA.
With the addition of a minor league sub-unit, the union will be able to increase its membership by more than four times. The goal of minor league players who began organizing in earnest in the last year was to unionize, with hopes of increasing pay from an annual average of around $12,000 as well as seeking better working conditions.
The union-authorization cards were sent out with the help of player leaders. Less than two weeks after the return favored unionization, minor league players are no longer in the picture.
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