CALMC

How Not To Solve a Labor-Management Problem

One of the things I enjoy when working with labor and management is helping them with problem solving. The sides learn they can proactively work together to find areas to improve their work systems.

Over the next couple of blogs, we want to take a look at a specific problem and examine how labor and management can try to solve the problem using a traditional approach and how it could be done more productively.

The problem we want to consider involves Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major Leage Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), the union representing players in both the major and minor leagues.

The issue in question is regarding the number of injuries to pitchers this year. Although it is early in the season, it seems like many pitchers are suffering shoulder or elbow injuries, many of them requiring surgery and lengthy recoveries.

It would seem like this is a problem that should concern both the union and management, however both started by opening fire at each other. Their methods seem to be:

Step 1: Look at the Symptoms. Before carefully identifying the problem, both sides have considered the symptoms they have observed. The players association believes the injuries are resulting from rule changes imposed by management last year. Management believes the cause is from the extreme stress placed on pitcher’s arms by the way they throw.

While the symptoms may be accurate, they do not help identify the root cause of the problem. Treating symptoms is rarely effective when trying to resolve concerns. Unless we understand the causes of the problem, we are not likely to be successful in solving it.

Step 2: Blame the Other Side. The key is to put the focus on blame finding and finger pointing at the other side. Real evidence is not necessary, the us-vs-them is what is important at this stage.

The entire debate began at this step, with the MPBPA pointing at baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred for implementing the pitch clock. Management quickly slashed back at the union, pointing out the lack of evidence behind their stance.

Now, the battle lines are drawn with techniques designed to divide the parties, not resolve the problem. Nothing done so far is really designed to find a solution.

Step 3. Take a Position. The players union put out a statement on social media implying the pitch clock was the key contributing factor.

“Despite unanimous player opposition and significant concerns regarding health and safety, the commissioner’s office reduced the length of the pitch clock last December, just one season removed from imposing the most significant rule change in decades,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said. “Since then, our concerns about the health impacts of reduced recovery time have only intensified. The league’s unwillingness thus far to acknowledge or study the effects of these profound changes is an unprecedented threat to our game and its most valuable asset — the players.”

The pitch clock shows the amount of time pitchers have before they must begin their throwing motion. 2024 is the second season in which it has been in use at the major league level. In 2023, pitchers had 15 seconds between pitches when no runner was on base and 20 seconds to begin their delivery with runners aboard. Over the winter, the competition committee passed a rule change cutting the latter time from 20 to 18 seconds.

The proposals for the clock and the changes were approved by the six league representatives on the rule committee, while all four players on the panel voted against it. The MLBPA released a statement at the time calling the changes “unnecessary” and saying the 2024 season “should be used to gather additional data and fully examine the health, safety and injury impacts of reduced recovery time.”

Next, Major-League Baseball fired its own salvo. Arguing there has been “no empirical backing pointing to the clock as a contributing factor to pitcher injuries.” MLB instead suggested the main issue is the increased stress which pitchers are putting on their arms to improve the quality of their arsenals.

The league claimed “(The MLBPA’s) statement ignores the empirical evidence and much more significant long-term trend, over multiple decades, of velocity and spin increases that are highly correlated with arm injuries.”

Step 4: Cite Evidence Showing the Other Side is Wrong. In their statement, baseball said, “Nobody wants to see pitchers get hurt in this game, which is why MLB is currently undergoing a significant comprehensive research study into the causes of this long-term increase, interviewing prominent medical experts across baseball which to date has been consistent with an independent analysis by Johns Hopkins University that found no evidence to support that the introduction of the pitch clock has increased injuries.

“In fact, JHU found no evidence that pitchers who worked quickly in 2023 were more likely to sustain an injury than those who worked less quickly on average. JHU also found no evidence that pitchers who sped up their pace were more likely to sustain an injury than those who did not.”

The MLBPA referred to the number of injuries suffered by significant players at the start of the 2024 season. Gerrit Cole (elbow inflammation), Lucas Giolito (internal brace surgery), Eduardo Rodriguez (lat strain), Anthony DeSclafani (flexor tendon surgery), Trevor Stephan (Tommy John surgery), and others were among the pitchers to suffer notable injuries during Spring Training, and the union contends the increased strain resulting from pitching more quickly is the cause.

Step 5: Cling To Your Position and Continue to Blame the Other Side. Since the initial statements, both the MLBPA and MLB continue to tout their positions. Neither side appears to be ready to engage in real studies to determine the cause. In the meantime, more pitchers are getting hurt and the use of the pitch clock continues.

Step 6: Do Nothing and See If the Problem Soves Itself. Here is a hint: It Won’t. Problems rarely disappear on their own.

Could the Players’ Union be right, and the pitch clock is the problem? They might be, or they could be wrong.

Could MLB be right, and the increased strain on pitchers’ elbows and shoulders resulting from sharper, more forceful deliveries be correct? They might be, or they could be wrong.

What we do know is the problem has continued, and injuries continue to occur.

Traditional methods such as these are not likely to resolve significant labor-management issues, whether they are on the playing field, the factory floor, or an office. The goal of each side becomes victory, and that supersedes trying to solve the matter. At best, perhaps the sides will find some compromise that only serves to push things aside without solving the problem.

There has got to be a better way. In my next blog, we will look at how the sides could effectively attempt to resolve the issue for the benefit of baseball and the players,

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CALMC activities, including our blog, are made possible in part by the continuing support of our members, such as

American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 8

American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1656

Central Ohio Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council

Columbus City School District

Educational Service Center of Central Ohio

Electrical Industries Labor-Management Cooperation Committee, including

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 683

Central Ohio Chapter, National Association of Electrical Contractors

Franklin County Board of Commissioners, Department of Human Resources

Ohio Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME Local 11 and the Union Education Trust

Ohio Education Association

Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 189

Roofers, Local 86

Seafarers/United Industrial Workers

Sheet Metal Contractors of Central Ohio

Sheet Metal Workers Local 24

Skinner Diesel Repair

State Council of Professional Educators (SCOPE)

State of Ohio Office of Collective Bargaining

Our activities are also made possible in part by a grant from the City of Columbus.

Contact us for more information about Columbus Area Labor-Management Committee or to bec