Umpires Return to Work Friday as Talks Proceed

Umpires today agreed to return to work on Friday for spring training games while pay and other related issues are resolved through binding arbitration.

U.S. District Judge Norma L. Shapiro announced the agreement between baseball and union officials in open court after closed-door sessions that began this morning.

The judge said she appointed retired Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Stanley Greenburg to handle the arbitration on pay and scheduling questions as well as hotel deposits and airline tickets lost by the umpires when season plans changed.

The umpires boycotted spring training games, which began Monday, to protest the way regular season games were rescheduled after the 32-day player lockout ended. The umpires said they should have had a say in the process.

On Sunday, baseball officials asked Shapiro for a restraining order to force the umpires back to work. Minor league umpires have been working the exhibition games. The boycotting umpires said they would have reported for regular season games, which begin April 9.

Shapiro was to hear arguments beginning this morning, but lawyers asked that the hearing be delayed while they tried to work out an agreement. Shapiro recessed closed-door sessions for lunch and said “considerable progress” was being made.

National League President Bill White and American League President Bobby Brown were on hand for the morning session.

In seeking the restraining order, baseball officials said the umpires violated no-strike and grievance clauses in their contract.

The complaint said the leagues’ collective bargaining agreement with the umpires, in effect through Dec. 31, contains mandatory grievance and arbitration procedures for settling disputes between the parties.