Players Union

Major League Baseball Players Association chief Donald Fehr never has been afraid to say no to baseball ownership. He is the stubborn union leader who blocked baseball's attempt to put a cap on salaries, and he has emerged as the most powerful voice in the debate over realignment.The San Francisco Giants can cry all they want about the negative effects of the radical realignment plan that would put them in the same league with the Oakland A's, but Giants owner Peter McGowan does not have the power to stop it. Fehr can tell the owners tomorrow that it isn't going to happen and it isn't.

If you happened to catch the videotape of the America's Cup boat breaking up in the waves last Sunday, then you have a full understanding of what the Major League Baseball Players Association could be facing in the next three weeks.The union is in trouble, and unless an agreement is reached in the very near future, its members could start jumping ship to save themselves.There are no major breaks in the foundation yet. But the cracks are there, manifested in the private, angry words of some players and agents, many of whom think union leader Donald Fehr has stubbornly refused to adjust to the changing circumstances of the negotiations.

The Major Soccer League players union -- saying team owners have gone to the well once too often -- yesterday rejected cuts in salaries and roster sizes.And Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale, who described the proposed rollbacks as "non-negotiable," said that if they were not accepted, one of the options was to fold the league."That is one of our options," said Hale. "We are checking with our attorneys to see what our alternatives are."A spokesman for commissioner Earl Foreman said an announcement would be made today.

Commissioner Earl Foreman, Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale, Blast coach Kenny Cooper and the Cleveland Crunch have been named in papers filed by the Major Indoor Soccer League Players Association charging unfair labor practices.The players union charges that those unfair practices included threats of blackballing players who continued to resist the salary cap reduction, and the blackballing of at least two players from the league.The complaint states that:* Foreman, Hale, Cooper "and other officers, agents and representatives" of the league interrogated players and created the impression of surveillance regarding which players continued to oppose a reduction in the collectively bargained salary cap.* Cooper and others threatened to blackball Major Soccer League players who continued to oppose a reduction in the salary cap.* Since near the end of July 1991, the MSL has refused to bargain with the MISLPA, the certified bargaining representative of the players, bypassing the union and imposing unilateral changes in salary and working conditions on its employees.

Although the Major League Baseball Players Association's new steroids plan isn't as stringent as the one proposed by the commissioner's office, it does add the highly controversial and reportedly oft-used amphetamines to the banned list. The proposal, detailed in a letter by union chief Donald Fehr, also includes lengthening the penalty of a first failed drug test from 10 days to 20 games with the possibility of it being lowered to 10 or increased to 30 depending on an arbiter's findings.

NEW YORK -- On the eve of a deadline that threatened the 1998-1999 National Basketball Association season -- and possibly, the future of the league -- the NBA and its players union reached an agreement yesterday that ends a six-month lockout.NBA Commissioner David Stern and Players Association Director Billy Hunter reached the deal at 6: 30 a.m. yesterday after a secret meeting that lasted through the night, and the players ratified the deal yesterday afternoon by a 179-5 vote during a meeting at the union offices.

EMMITSBURG -- A breakthrough might be near in the dispute between missing forward John Williams and the Washington Bullets.NBA Players Association executive directorCharles Grantham said yesterday that he is seeking an arbitration hearing on Williams' disputed back pay within the next two weeks.As he did last year, Williams, 24, has not reported to the Bullets training camp at Mount St. Mary's College. At issue is the salary withheld from his reported $1.2 million contract.Acting through his Los Angeles-based agent, Fred Slaughter, the five-year NBA veteran has sought arbitration since March to recover an estimated $368,000, the sum the Bullets deducted for the 49 games Williams missed last season while he battled a persistent weight problem.

The simmering feud between the NFL Players Association and retired players boiled over when Gene Upshaw, the union's executive director, made threatening comments about one of his most vocal critics. Speaking about Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure in an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News last week, Upshaw said: "A guy like DeLamielleure says the things he said about me; you think I'm going to invite him to dinner? No. I'm going to break his ... damn neck." Upshaw's outburst comes at a time when the NFL's image has been tarnished by repeated player arrests in the past year.

It's tempting to view the $1 billion-a-year sports trading card industry as "Big Business."But "Big Labor" might be more like it.Beginning with baseball in 1967, most of the major sports unions have obtained the rights to market the names and faces of their members in lucrative group deals for trading cards, board and computer games and other sports-oriented products.The licensing revenues, boosted by trading card mania, have outrun dues as the main source of cash for the unions. Last year, the players associations of baseball, football and hockey grossed more than $90 million from the arrangements, according to federal reports and the associations.

The Orioles voted unanimously yesterday to give the executive committee of the Major League Players Association authorization to set a strike date and -- if necessary -- to call for a work stoppage later this season.Player representative Mike Mussina conducted the meeting before last night's game against the Oakland Athletics. Presumably, the other 27 major-league clubs have taken similar votes or will do so before the executive committee meets Monday in Pittsburgh.There had been speculation that Monday's meeting would produce a strike deadline, but union director Donald Fehr may ask the committee to leave that option open for the time being, since the negotiations on a new labor agreement still are in the preliminary stages.