Talks Get Testy, Hit an Impasse

With just six days to go until the deadline for a baseball strike, the negotiators reached an impasse Wednesday and adjourned without agreeing to talk again today.

Donald Fehr, the players’ union leader, said he probably would see Lee MacPhail, the owners’ chief negotiator, in the morning for some informal conversation, but MacPhail said he wasn’t even sure that would occur.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Peter Ueberroth said through a spokesman that he is very disappointed with the progress in the talks. Ueberroth added that his office has been overwhelmed by fan mail opposing a strike.

The commissioner met with the owners’ negotiating team, MacPhail and Barry Rona, after Wednesday’s heated negotiating session, during which Marvin Miller, one of the union negotiators, accused the owners’ representatives of deceitful bargaining.

MacPhail said that Ueberroth had asked for a report on the day’s exchanges but had made no proposals of his own.

Fehr said he had not met with Ueberroth Wednesday, but he indicated that conversations would continue with the commissioner.

The argument Wednesday centered on Miller’s claim that the owners had backed down on a commitment made during the last contract talks in 1981 that whatever was negotiated in 1985 would be retroactive to 1984. He charged that the pension-plan proposal put forth Tuesday by the owners, and rejected by the union, would not be retroactive.

MacPhail, however, quickly said that it would be.

The owners had proposed a level of pension contributions that would be linked to the rate of salary increases in such a way that it seemed the probable total pension contributions would decline from the current level of $15.5 million. The union said that would not be acceptable.

Miller said that during Wednesday’s session, on his insistence, MacPhail had withdrawn the proposal. MacPhail denied that.

This is the way things went, with neither side agreeing with the other about anything. Rona said he found the day “extremely discouraging and very frustrating.”

Meanwhile, Fehr went to New York’s Shea Stadium to meet with Met and Montreal Expo players to explain to them the latest developments in the negotiations. Later, the player representatives of both teams said the owners are underestimating the players’ determination.

The next move, Fehr said later, is up to the owners. For now, he added, the Tuesday strike date is firm, and it is “very difficult to visualize circumstances” in which a strike would be delayed if there is no settlement.

MacPhail, however, said that if progress is being made by next Tuesday, his guess would be that the union would be happy to delay the strike. “We’ll do our best to settle this thing,” he said. “In talks like this, people play hardball right up until the last few hours.”