![]() “The owners wanted to lock in and maximize their advantage by exploiting these guys at the greatest time of vulnerability,” Gould said. Now it’s on the owners for setting the lockout. Plus, the onus would have been on the union if it didn’t agree. If that had happened, no lockout would have been necessary, and players could have been on the field during negotiations. One element surprising to Gould is that the owners didn’t arrange to receive from players a no-strike settlement during the season. In June 2020, when owners and players fought over how to proceed on a pandemic-shorted season, Gould told The Chronicle he anticipated that after the CBA expired in December 2021, owners would call for a lockout as a weapon against players: coming before the season when the teams’ economic sacrifices aren’t as hefty. Gould wonders if owners introducing on-field rule changes in the final hours of negotiations could be considered unfair labor practice, “at the minimum, it’s unprofessional, bad form.” ![]() “A lot of these players weren’t even born when the last disputes were happening.” “Players now don’t have the institutional memory the union had in the previous century,” Gould said. Since the strike, labor peace ensued until now. Gould questions whether the players will get a satisfactory deal and notes the players who went through the 1994-95 strike were well-versed in labor strife considering all the previous work stoppages. “Just looking at the environment and that it should be a better prospect for settlement than those rigid battle lines that were set up 27 years ago when we dealt with the players and owners,” Gould said of his optimism for a resolution. Teams are penalized for exceeding the CBT threshold, and while players are proposing a $238 million threshold that increases to $263 million by the end of a five-year agreement, owners want it to be $220 million the first three years, eventually increasing to $230 million. It has become a mechanism that limits teams, especially those with the highest revenues, from freely spending on players. On the other hand, the competitive balance tax acts as a de facto salary cap, according to players, and remains the biggest sticking point in negotiations. Nevertheless, Gould expressed optimism that a collective bargaining agreement could be reached within seven to 10 days because of the movement on some issues before talks in Florida broke down Tuesday and because owners aren’t trying to implement a salary cap as they were during the last shutdown. “Even though the owners are shooting themselves in the foot public relations-wise with this ham-handed lockout,” Gould said in a phone interview, “they are squeezing the players more effectively than they were able to in ’94-95 because they’re catching the players when they’re desperate and most vulnerable.” Gould, 85, a professor emeritus at Stanford Law School and long-time Red Sox fan who frequents press boxes at Oracle Park and the Coliseum, said another difference is the timing of the shutdown, a tactic by owners to gain leverage by locking out players when many are unsigned. “Now” is 2022 and the owners’ lockout, in its 95th day Saturday, has delayed spring training, scratched regular-season games and surfaced memories of the longest work stoppage in baseball history. “Then” was 1994-95 and the 232-day players’ strike that wiped out a World Series and ended when Gould, as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, cast the deciding vote to obtain an injunction against owners.
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