Union

VIERA, Fla. - Having intensified its warning to players about the use of products containing ephedra, the baseball players union is not prepared at the moment to take the next step and agree to a ban on ephedra, the union's executive director said yesterday. Donald Fehr reiterated that the union would await two developments before considering a next step: further potential action by the Food and Drug Administration and a toxicology report from the autopsy of Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler.

The president of the city fire officer's union was allowed to return to work last night, four days after he exchanged a series of sharply worded e-mails with Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. and was suspended from duty. Stephan G. Fugate, president of Baltimore Fire Officers Association Local 964, still faces a charge of insubordination, which eventually will be adjudicated by an administrative hearing officer. Punishment could range from a reprimand to termination, Fugate said. Fugate was suspended without pay Thursday, one day after he set off the e-mail exchange by posting a message on the union's Web site that criticized Goodwin for a plan to have "rotating closures" of four firehouses.

Outside, Saturn Corp.'s future appears as bright as th dogwoods that will soon blossom in the Tennessee spring. For the first time, Americans last month bought more Saturns than Honda Accords. The company is hiring 1,000 workers for a third crew to start in June. The president of Saturn, General Motors Corp.'s $3.5 billion small-car venture, predicts that the subsidiary will break even by the end of the year.But inside Saturn's complex in Spring Hill, Tenn., three dissident groups are trying to unseat Mike Bennett, president of the United Auto Workers union local.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the consolidated cases of Washington vs. Washington Education Association and Davenport vs. WEA, which could have major implications for organized labor and the free-speech rights of workers nationwide. Organized labor's numbers have been plummeting for decades. The U.S. Department of Labor reported in January that the number of union members is at a record low. Over the last year, the percentage of union workers has declined in 31 states.

Northwest Airlines will land in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy before long if other unions don't join its pilots in giving the struggling carrier hundreds of millions of dollars in annual wage and other labor-cost concessions. That warning yesterday didn't come from Northwest's executives, but from the head of its pilots union. "The time has come for all union leaders to move beyond denial and anger and act responsibly for the good of their members," Mark McClain, chairman of the master executive council of the Northwest Airlines Air Line Pilots Association, wrote in a union newsletter.

The union representing USAir's 10,000 flight attendants has suspended negotiations over concessions, saying further meetings are fruitless as long as management and USAir's pilots aren't talking.The recess will last at least through Nov. 15, Carol Austin, USAir chapter chair of the Association of Flight Attendants, said yesterday. In the interim, union leaders will meet with flight attendants around the country to update them on the negotiations.Ms. Austin said the flight attendants cannot accomplish much more until it becomes clear how much the company's pilots will give up.The pilots have offered 20 percent pay cuts and said other employee groups also should give up 20 percent in some combination of pay, benefits, work rules and job reductions.

Tom Bolton recalls his older Boston Red Sox teammates ordering him to attend union meetings during spring training. Leo Gomez recalls Puerto Rican veterans like Juan Beniquez and Jose Cruz educating younger players during winter ball.The indoctrination starts right away, be it at a hotel in Florida or a stadium in Puerto Rico. The average major-leaguer might be more familiar with Reggie Miller than Marvin Miller, but he knows enough to support his union.It's part of the clubhouse culture -- the older players fought for you, now you do your part.

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The first exhibition games are nearly two weeks away, and already Scab Training is a disaster."The whole thing," Philadelphia owner Bill Giles said yesterday, "has a chance to get uglier by the day."The owners never should have perpetrated this sham in the first place. But now the union is doing its best to ensure that innocent people get hurt.Donald Fehr doesn't care who gets trampled, as long as his players can maintain their alimony and child-support payments, with money left over to install CD players and cell phones in their sports cars.

The executive council for USAir's pilot union is expected to meet today in Reston, Va., to consider an agreement that would cut pilots' pay by 20 percent and allow the carrier to furlough up to 300 pilots.The union's leaders were scheduled to meet yesterday to review the agreement, but the meeting was postponed to give the two sides time to work out the details of the proposal, a union official said.The agreement reached Saturday between the company and the union provides for $190 million annually in concessions, including a 20 percent pay cut that would save the company $150 million a year for the next five years.

The union representing Annapolis police yesterday unanimously rejected the latest contract offer from city officials but postponed a no-confidence vote on Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins.Police Sgt. John Mellon, chief union shop steward for Local 400 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, said the no-confidence vote "will be deferred to a later date."The 50 assembled union members approved, 44-6, a no-confidence vote against Police Chief Harold Robbins."The guys cited lack of leadership and a lack of support," Sergeant Mellon said.