NLRB Votes to Seek Injunction Against Owners : Labor: Action could reinstate expired labor agreement and, perhaps, lead to an end to baseball strike. But possibility of lockout remains.

The National Labor Relations Board voted, 3-2, on Sunday to seek an injunction forcing baseball owners to reinstate terms of the expired labor agreement, leading, perhaps, to an end to the strike.

Daniel Silverman, regional director of the NLRB’s New York office, said he would file for the injunction in U.S. District Court today and hoped a hearing could be scheduled before the season starts with replacement players on Sunday night.

Union leader Donald Fehr said he would recommend to the players’ executive committee in meetings in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday they return to work without an agreement if the NLRB obtains an appropriate injunction.

The owners, who have shown no desire to play another season under the old rules, might respond with a lockout, but management sources said Sunday that the owners might not get the 21 votes necessary to institute a lockout, which carries significant legal and financial risks.

One American League owner said Sunday that six clubs will vote against a lockout: the Dodgers, New York Yankees and Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles and San Diego Padres. He said the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers are leaning that way, which would be enough to prevent a lockout. However, Dodger owner Peter O’Malley said he has not made a decision and wants to know more about the ramifications.

In the meantime, negotiations are scheduled to resume in New York tonight. Bud Selig, baseball’s acting commissioner; Jerry McMorris, owner of the Colorado Rockies, and John Harrington, Boston Red Sox chairman, will meet with Fehr and his staff.

“If something is going to give, it has to give before we start the season with replacement players,” McMorris said.

It is uncertain, however, how much either side is willing to give.

Sources said the owners are still tied to the proposals made by special mediator William J. Usery in early February and rejected by the union. There is also speculation that the owners might be attempting to create a scenario in which they would declare another impasse and implement their new economic package before an injunction is in place. Union lawyer Eugene Orza said it is still the owners’ goal to break the union and “they have it in their blood” to see replacement ball before anything productive takes place.

The NLRB, which had postponed an injunction decision on Thursday in the futile hope the sides would negotiate over the weekend, voted along political lines Sunday, with the three Democrats prevailing. An injunction would force owners to reinstate salary arbitration, free agency bidding and the anti-collusion clause of the expired agreement.

“This we believe is necessary to level the playing field in order that bargaining may proceed fairly,” general counsel Fred Feinstein said.

Said Orza of the decision: “I’m never surprised when something we say is upheld by a third party.”

Said Selig: “We’re obviously disappointed, but we’re quite encouraged by the 3-2 vote. The clubs are confident they’ll prevail on the law in court.”

While the clock ticked toward the season opener, Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf launched another verbal attack at Fehr, comparing him to the late cult leader Jim Jones. The union believes Reinsdorf has been attempting to drive a wedge between Fehr and the players. In suggesting that the players need new leaders, Reinsdorf said:

“I don’t want to say something that’s going to make headlines, but there is a certain similarity (to Jim Jones). The players are blindly following Don Fehr.”

Said Fehr: “If Reinsdorf is to be taken seriously it would indicate a new level of hostility, but I’m not going to take Reinsdorf seriously.”