Players Ready to Set the Date

Entrenched at opposite extremes of the main economic issue in stalled baseball labor talks, management and players Thursday apparently moved closer to triggering the sport’s ninth work stoppage since 1972.

Negotiations hit a wall for the second time in as many days over a payroll tax, producing more skepticism about a process that sources on both sides said probably won’t produce an agreement before a deadline today that could escalate the conflict.

With owners and the Major League Baseball Players Assn. still far apart on the concept and application of a payroll tax, the union’s executive board is expected to set a strike deadline that might further encumber bargaining.

“It wasn’t good today,” said Atlanta Brave pitcher Tom Glavine, the National League player representative. “They made another proposal that was fairly meaningless. We’re basically sitting back, waiting for them to give us a serious offer.”

The executive board, scheduled to reconvene for a 10 a.m. EDT conference call, had been prepared to announce a walkout date Monday in Chicago. However, it postponed because of management’s suggestion that an agreement could be completed soon if talks continued without adding another wrench to the process.

But the sides are now further apart about the tax, which management deems essential to gain a minimal form of salary restraint on the high-revenue clubs that drive the market and, in the view of many owners, prevent competitive balance.

Management did not soften its stance in two negotiating sessions Thursday, and the executive board was on the verge of making a strike date public.

The union has considered Aug. 30, Sept. 2 and Sept. 16 to stop playing, and many players are now targeting Aug. 30--the Friday of Labor Day weekend. Negotiations have at times moved steadily since resuming in earnest after the All-Star break, but the sides haven’t approached common ground on the core issue that threatens to derail the process.

Management only a few days ago had continued to characterize talks in optimistic language, but players don’t view things similarly and are prepared to take action.

“I got a gut feeling they’ll probably set a date tomorrow,” Houston Astro player representative Gregg Zaun said. “They haven’t gotten anywhere the last three days, which to me was somewhat surprising.”

Management has moved slightly from its original proposal for a 50% tax on payrolls over $98 million, increasing their threshold to a little more than $100 million, sources said. The union tax threshold is in the $139-million range, and the New York Yankees are the only club projected to surpass that total next season.

Owners, insisting that the next agreement include a viable mechanism to slow escalating player salaries, were perplexed by the union’s decision to present a plan that does not address more than one team. Under management’s proposal, as many as seven teams would be assessed the tax in 2003.

With owners seeking a legal method to promote spending restraint, attempting to regain control lost in decades of previous collective bargaining without collusion, the union is especially sensitive to what it views as a two-tiered system--a salary cap by another name. It fears that increased revenue sharing and a wide-ranging payroll tax would siphon too much money from high-revenue teams, in effect creating a cap.

The union views payroll tax as a component of revenue sharing, another means of transferring money from high-revenue to low-revenue clubs, maintaining they work in conjunction only to redistribute revenue. The union is prepared to make further concessions on revenue sharing, but not unless owners abandon their proposal for a payroll tax that would affect many teams.

Union head Don Fehr, rallying the troops during a recent tour of all 30 clubs, preached the need to oppose a stiff luxury tax. It appears everyone is adhering to his message as the deadline approaches.

“We made an offer to try to reign in the Yankees and maybe one or two others,” Glavine said.

“Instead, they want to affect six or seven others immediately, and maybe six or seven more on the periphery. That’s a salary cap.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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BALLPARK FIGURES

282 - Days since old agreement expired (Nov. 7, 2001)

44 - Days left in the regular season, concluding Sept. 29

8 - Baseball work stoppages (strikes and lockouts) since 1972