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Labor talks resume without Beeston Posted: Tuesday March 05, 2002 12:01 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Paul Beeston, chief operating officer of major league baseball, will leave the commissioner's office at mid-month, a high-ranking official said Monday night. The date of Beeston's departure was revealed after collective bargaining resumed in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and management told the players' association that Beeston no longer was part of its negotiating team. Beeston's departure probably will be announced by the commissioner's office later this week, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The Toronto Star first reported on Jan. 19 that Beeston would be leaving, but Beeston said the following week that his departure was not imminent. Management negotiators told the union that Rob Manfred, their chief labor lawyer, and Howard Ganz, their chief outside lawyer, would remain on the negotiating team and would be joined by Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief legal counsel. DuPuy, who has attended only some of the previous negotiating sessions, said he was not replacing Beeston, who has had the best relationship with the union among management officials in recent years. "Rob, Howard and I will be at every meeting and are all available to answer questions," DuPuy said. Meanwhile, the baseball official disclosed that management had asked the union last week to make three changes to salary arbitration. Owners want to eliminate arbitration each year for the dozen or so players with 2-to-3 years of major league service currently eligible, a right the union won in the 1990 labor contract. In 1985, owners succeeded in taking away arbitration eligibility for players with 2-to-3 years of service, but owners agreed five years later to make the top 17 percent of the class, by service time, eligible once more. Management also wants to move up the arbitration filing date from Jan. 15 to Jan. 7. The biggest change would give the teams five days after the exchange of proposed salaries to release a player who had been eligible for arbitration. Currently, teams must decide by Dec. 20 whether to offer players on their rosters contracts for the following season and cannot release players after that without paying a portion of their salary. As part of their proposal, owners also want salary withheld from players suspended for on-field misconduct and for all players to be eligible for the annual amateur draft, not just those in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Union head Donald Fehr said there were no major events at the negotiating session, which lasted for about two hours. "We asked a series of questions about their proposals of last week," he said. The sides, seeking an agreement to replace the one that expired Nov. 7, are to have staff-level talks Tuesday before resuming full negotiations the following day. Thus far, neither side has threatened what would be baseball's ninth work stoppage since 1972. Eight players attended the session: Brad Ausmus, Damion Easley, Chris George, Tom Glavine, Jason Grimsley, Mike Remlinger, Mike Stanton and B.J. Surhoff.
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