About 100 striking players, including Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves, are expected to meet this week in hopes of coming up with a counterproposal to the owners' payroll tax plan.
The three-day session of the union's executive board starts Monday. Some players planned to arrive Sunday night, although there was a chance that thick fog in the Atlanta area could delay their flights."The object of the meeting will be to catch up everybody on where we stand and to see if we can develop a counteroffer that will produce some meaningful dialogue," union head Don Fehr said Sunday in Atlanta.
"It's going to be hard work, but we'll see if we can get it done," he said.
Mediator W.J. Usery planned to meet with the players on Tuesday, Fehr said.
At Usery's urging, owners delayed a meeting Monday in Chicago at which it had been expected they would put into effect their own system built around a salary cap.
"I know there are some that thought we should have implemented already," said Braves president Stan Kasten, who has been active in the negotiations.
"I do think that Don is seeking to go to his players and bring us a proposal that is fair," he said. "There is nowhere else to go."
Players and owners are scheduled to meet Friday in Rye Brook, N.Y., in yet another attempt to make progress at settling the strike that began Aug. 12.
Owners, however, aren't likely to wait much longer for a resolution. They plan to meet in the middle of next week and, if there is no settlement by Dec. 17, might then go ahead with their system, which would also include the elimination of salary arbitration.
"I'm not saying we're going to come out of our meeting with a proposal that is just going to knock their socks off," said Glavine, the Braves' player representative.
"But hopefully we can come out of our meetings with a proposal that has the basis to which we can start negotiationg a deal," he said.
The players made their most recent proposal on Sept. 8, calling for a 1.6 percent tax on the 16 teams with the highest revenue and a 1.6 percent tax on the 16 teams with the highest payrolls.
Management's latest proposal, made Nov. 17, called for a much steeper tax that would have escalated to 77.66 percent for the Detroit Tigers this season.
As an example, the Tigers, whose payroll was almost $57 million this season, would have paid about $1.8 million under the players' plan. The Tigers would have paid $44 million under management's plan.
Players contend the owners' big tax would serve the same purpose as a salary cap.
As Fehr did during several meetings with players around the country and in the Caribbean after the strike began, he is certain to preach the importance of union solidarity.
Owners have talked about starting next season with replacement players if the major leaguers are still on strike.
"I don't think any one of us is going to say every single one of our guys are going to maintain the line and not cross," Glavine said. "You certainly are not going to see the big-time players that people are going to pay to see anytime soon."