Labor Negotiations Resume; Fehr Looks for Closure

Union leader Donald Fehr and management negotiator Randy Levine returned to full-scale bargaining sessions for the first time in several weeks Friday in New York, with more talks scheduled today. Acting Commissioner Bud Selig may join them either today or Sunday.

“It feels good to be back,” Fehr said. “We’re looking forward to trying to close the virtual agreement we reached with the clubs in early August.”

The agreement included two provisions that have produced in-fighting among the owners, thwarting Selig’s attempt to generate a 21-vote consensus.

The provisions would return full service time to the players for the 75 regular-season days they were on strike in 1994-95 and give the union a second consecutive year devoid of a payroll luxury tax in 2001, the last year of the proposal.

“Randy raised several issues today that represented a renegotiation of fundamental agreements, and we told him we couldn’t do that,” Fehr said.

Eligible players can begin filing for free agency five days after the World Series under terms of the expired agreement. Both sides say a new deal must be reached before then or they are destined to play another year under the expired rules, with the current proposal--the closest they have come to an agreement in three years--being trashed.