Baseball Toaster: The Griddle : Dayn Perry writes an idiotic article about the MLBPA

Dayn Perry writes an idiotic article about the MLBPA

2006-08-30 18:55

by Bob Timmermann

And the Chicago Sports Review published it.

Perry wrote the linked article taking the Major League Baseball Players Associations to task for not acting like a "genuine trade union" and not supporting the umpires when they went on strike or organizing the minor leaguers.

First of all, the MLBPA is not a trade union. It's a company union. It's an entirely different animal. A trade union, such as the United Auto Workers, tries to get the best deal for all types of people doing various jobs in an industry. A company union, like the MLBPA, can only represent people who are employed by one entity, Major League Baseball. And all of those people have one job: they play baseball. This also means that MLBPA can't organize minor leaguers either. They're in the wrong company. If this were something like "The International Association of Baseball Players" then you might have a case. But it isn't.

Second of all, Perry tosses this line out "Genuine labor unions -- the ones fighting for the living wages and workplace safety of plumbers and stevedores-are fellow travelers with other unions, often marching in one another's picket lines."

Hmm, I'm a union member. I know I've crossed picket lines. I've known a lot of other members of my union who have crossed picket lines. Some people care about such matters. Others don't. We seem to get by OK.

Perry seems to think that labor unions are only groups of blue collar workers who work against gritty backdrops like in "On the Waterfront". But there are a lot of white collar unions. And there are still company unions, like MLBPA. And their aims are entirely different from what the AFL-CIO, SEIU or the Teamsters have.

Comments

2006-08-30 19:19:33

1. Greg Brock

Sometimes the romance of populism and "The working man" leads people to make absolutely moronic statements. I can't stand much of what teachers' unions stand for, and say as much to anybody who listens.

Somebody has seen Norma Rae a few too many times.

2006-08-30 19:26:04

2. Bob Timmermann

I would have been angrier, but I decided not to go on. It wouldn't have been Willoughby-like of me.

2006-08-30 19:39:24

3. Greg Brock

After a little bit of research, I've found out that Dayn Perry's middle name is Gompers.

It all makes sense now.

2006-08-30 19:55:25

4. Steve

You forgot the part where he claims that the point of the union is for all the money to go to the "best players"

2006-08-30 20:05:47

5. Bob Timmermann

At the recent SABR convention, the MLBPA's first general counsel, Dick Moss, constantly referred to MLBPA as a "company union" and talked about how Marvin Miller was able to make it one of the few of its kind to be successful.
Most companies let its employees form company unions to be nice to them and have an easily pliable group to work with.

2006-08-30 20:25:20

6. Andrew Shimmin

Come gather round children, it's high time ye learns
'Bout a hero named Homer and a devil named Burns
We'll march till we drop, the girls and the fellas
We'll fight to the death or else fold like umbrellas.
So we'll march day and night by the big cooling tower
They have the plant, but we have the power.

2006-08-30 20:39:53

7. Bob Timmermann

"Dental plan!"
"Barry needs steroids!"
"Dental plan!"
"Barry needs steroids!"

2006-08-30 20:55:56

8. Greg Brock

6 7 I have nothing but humble applause.

I'll get my revenge when monorails are discussed.

2006-08-30 20:58:26

9. Greg Brock

"Look at them all, through the darkness I'm bringing.
They're not sad at all. They're actually singing!
They sing without juicers.
They sing without blenders.
They sing without flunjers, capdabblers and smendlers"

2006-08-30 23:01:40

10. Linkmeister

8 Yes, speak to us of monorails. Honolulu is about to vote in favor of spending $3B or so on one.

9 What the heck is that from? It's very familiar, but I can't place it.

2006-08-30 23:10:44

11. Greg Brock

6 7 9 and 10 are all from the Simpsons episode entitled "Last Exit to Springfield," where Mr. Burns eliminates the company dental plan, and the workers go on strike.

Monorails do not work out. Ask the good folks of Ogdenville, North Haverbrook, and Brockaway. That's from "Marge vs. the Monorail." Leonard Nimoy makes an appearance.

Yes, I am embarassed that I know all this from memory.

2006-08-30 23:14:55

12. Greg Brock

10 is not from The Simpsons. 10 is you asking a question. 11 is me answering it, and 12 is me explaining how I screwed up.

Hope that covers everything.

2006-08-30 23:18:40

13. Linkmeister

11 Ok, but I think it was stolen, and I now think I know from whence it came. It's a play on the Grinch's mutterings when the Whos come out and sing on Christmas despite his stealing all their presents, even down to the roast beast.

2006-08-30 23:20:44

14. Greg Brock

13 Oh, that's what you meant. Yes, it's a play on the Grinch. Burns even does the Grinch move where he puts his hand to his hear to hear the singing and leans in. The animators contort his face to look Grinch-like. It's an homage, if you will.

2006-08-30 23:30:28

15. Linkmeister

My ear is still reasonably ok, then.

I'm at a disadvantage; I've never seen a single entire episode of the Simpsons. Not out of snobbishness; I just never got the habit. There must have been something else on at the same time when it began, and I just never got the habit. Someday I should get the DVDs and watch them; I miss a ton of cultural references.

2006-08-30 23:33:23

16. Greg Brock

Rent season 4. I think it's the best.

2006-08-31 00:20:42

17. DougS

6 7 8

Great. Now play, "Classical Gas."

16 Indeed, 'twas a Golden Age.

2006-08-31 10:45:26

18. confucius

Bob, sometimes your headlines make me laugh so hard that I come back and read the article several times.

2006-08-31 11:42:18

19. Bob Timmermann

I wasn't exactly being subtle this time.

Andrew Shimmin

Lyle Overbay of Toronto by Chad Moeller of the Yankees on July 12, 2008