Picketing Umpires Protest Replacements : Lockout: Union, management await hearing before Ontario Labor Relations Board.

Baseball’s locked-out umpires gave players permission to cross their picket lines, and the season began Tuesday night with replacements officiating for the second time in five years.

Umpires’ union head Richie Phillips and management negotiator Robert Kheel traveled to Toronto for a hearing today before the Ontario Labor Relations Board. The umpires want to stop replacements from working games at the SkyDome, claiming the provincial law against replacement workers should apply to the American League.

“Their money still hasn’t hit the table,” Phillips said. “I think a lot depends on how things go tomorrow.”

“There’s nothing new,” Kheel said before a scheduled meeting with Phillips on Tuesday night, “and it’s not my expectation that there will be anything new.”

In an unusual joint statement, Phillips and players’ association head Donald Fehr said they had reached an understanding.

“The umpires do not wish to cause more damage than has already been caused by the destructive labor policies of the clubs,” Phillips said.

Umpires picketed Tuesday night’s opener in Miami between the Florida Marlins and the Dodgers and were scheduled to picket today in New York, Toronto and perhaps other sites.

“It’s really sad that they’ve sold out the fans again,” said National League umpire Jerry Layne. “How can it be a real game with scabs as umpires?”

“They tried (replacement umpires) before, and they were burned before,” said Harry Wendelstedt, a National League veteran of 30 years. “And they will get burned again.

“Scab umpires were the best thing that ever happened to us (in 1979). Even people who scream and yell at us during the season will agree that there’s a big difference.”

According to information provided by the National League, three of the umpires calling the Marlin-Dodger game were former minor league umpires. The other umpire handles college games.

Players, who struck for 232 days from last Aug. 11 to March 31, have not honored picket lines set up by other unions.

“The players appreciate this gesture very much,” Fehr said. “I want, however, to make it clear that the players simply deplore the use of scab umpires and call upon the owners to promptly end the lockout and return the real umpires to the field.

“Without question, the scab umpires will continue to demonstrate why real major league games, which can only be played by real major league players, should also only be umpired by real major league umpires--not pretenders.”

In 1991, the sides settled just a few hours before the first pitch and the regular umpires missed seven of eight games on opening day. In 1985, they struck for the first seven games of the playoffs and in 1979 they struck for the first seven weeks of the season.

Under the expired four-year deal, rookie umpires were paid $60,000 with the scale rising to a top of $175,000 for 25-year veterans. In addition, each umpire received $10,000-$20,000 from the postseason bonus pool, and crew chiefs got $6,000 more apiece. Umpires received $5,000 for each special event worked, such as the All-Star game and the World Series.

Owners want to pay rookies $70,000 with the top set at $215,000 for a 30-year veteran. Owners offered to pay umpires in the World Series $12,500 each, in the league championship series $10,000 apiece and in the new division series $7,500 each. In addition, all umpires would be guaranteed at least $20,000 from the postseason pool.

In their last public proposal, umpires asked for starting pay of $85,000 with a top scale of $240,000.

Times staff writer Bob Nightengale contributed to this report from Miami.