Minor League Baseball Players Unionize

Minor league baseball players voted to unionize.  I’m Amy E. Feldman.

Minor league baseball players joined a union after a union organizing drive that lasted only seventeen days, which makes you think union organizing is an easy process, but just like hitting a ball pitched at ninety miles an hour, professional baseball players have made it look much easier than it usually is.

The effort to unionize usually starts when an employee contacts a union.  The union rep then visits the workplace to see if there’s enough interest to start a campaign.  If so, the union sets up an organizing committee to explain the benefits of the union and solicit employees to sign authorization cards.  If at least thirty percent of employees sign the cards, the union can hold a campaign and call for an election, and if the union wins, it can bargain on behalf of the employees.  Organizing campaigns take an average of 42 days, and some are longer, so unlike the pace of a baseball game, the pace of the minor leaguers’ union drive was very fast.