Domestic FA in 7 Years

Very interesting.

If I remember correctly, it took a huge fight just to get FA in the first place. Do you think the powers-that-be will just sit down and accept this? Somehow I don't.

A week back I asked a question (that unfortunatly wasn't answered) about the strength of the players' union in Japan, and I'm wondering about it again. Is there any talk of a strike? And what did they do to get the FA in the first place.

I'm afraid that the Players' Association in Japan is pretty weak. That's a real shame considering that they actually make attempts to feedback from fans (in Japanese), while I've never seen any kind of feedback form/address on any official NPB team site.

For the most part, the owners ignore proposals by the Players' Association. Or, they have so far. A case in point was when the Players' Association requested answers to four questions regarding the expantion to 140 games a few years back. The main topic was increasing the number of games without giving them meaning, as inter-league play would have done. The request was made in October or November, but the owners completely ignored it until half way through spring training. At that point Furuta, the head of the Players' Association, went to the press and demanded that the four questions be answered or the players would stage a sit out for a week mid-season. (The opening series was also discussed as a possible target, if I remember correctly.)

The owners grudgingly gave vague answers to the questions which didn't really satisfy me. But it was symbolic enough to avoid the sit-out. The only point that the owners made was reducing the number of days o the 1-gun register to 150 to be considered one year served for free agency. I don't recall the other two questions, but the owners dodged them completely.

Another example is the Players' Association's rights to their images. There has been a struggle for a couple of years now over rights to players' images for games and such. NPB (the Commissioners' Office) sold exclusive rights to games to a video game console manufacturer. So if any competing company wants to make a Pro Yakyu game with real NPB players, they have to buy a sub-license from said manufacturer. The Players' Association rightfully cried foul as NPB had essentially sold away one of their planned sources of income. JPBPA has tried to sell rights anyway, but no manufacturer wants to cross NPB on this, even for lower licensing fees. The result is that the Players were given rights to something that NPB had already sold off to the highest bidder.

Nonetheless, getting the above 7 years to free agency without 1-gun days served will be a very hard task to get approval by the owners on. Maybe not as hard as inter-league play, though, which the Players' Association claims 90% of fans in a recent JPBPA poll support. But I think that the Players' Association is learning. Having big press releases of their discussions like this should help turn public opinion their way.

I doubt that the players will ever strike. But public relations are very important to the parent companies of the teams. They don't want the Players' Association taking the arguments to the fans. So the JPBPA will probably continue etching out a deal here and there for some time before attaining any real power.

Thanks Westbay-san for that very informative piece about the Japanese Baseball labor situation.

I agree with Giants-san - very interesting.

Now then, a question! Excuse my ignorance (I am relatively new to baseball) but why would the owners possibly be against inter-league games? What disatvantage could there possibly be for them?

> I agree with Giants-san - very interesting.
>
> Now then, a question! Excuse my ignorance (I am
> relatively new to baseball) but why would the owners
> possibly be against inter-league games? What
> disatvantage could there possibly be for them?

The owners blocking interleague play are all Central League owners. Because there are large populations of Giants fans all over Japan, playing the Giants means money; this is why the Pacific League wants interleague play. But interleague play means fewer games for the CL teams to play against the Giants, so they are balking at it.

The JPBPA is probably weak when compared to American sports unions, particlarly the mighty MLBPA. However, it's important to note the improvements they have made under the leadership of Atsuya Furuta. They have gained free agency, they have the right to negotiate with agents, and they are forcing discussion of more and more issues, which is much better than the situation just 10 years ago.

Also, you have to realize there is a huge difference between the ways Japanese unions operate and American unions. American unions set strike dates (and indeed strike) in order to force a deal. This would really be unthinkable in Japan, and much more emphasis is placed on management and union working together, negotiating without scare tactics. Japanese unions in general don't strike as much as American unions. There's a newsworthy strike or sick-out every year in America. I can't remember one single strike the whole time I was in Japan from 98-01.

The JPBPA is making great strides, and I feel it has a much better reputation in the press and among the fans, thanks in no small part, I think, to the clean-cut responsible image of Furuta. He's a warm, humorous, good-looking man, who embodies the Japanese ethic of work and obligation to society. Women like him, men respect him, and he's the kind of guy parents would have loved to have their daughters bring home. He ably communicates the positions of the JPBPA to the public. He has the JPBPA, and thus Japanese Baseball, headed in the right direction.

[...] they are forcing discussion of more and more issues [...]

Strike! Right down the middle!

Today's Nikkan Sports had a reaction from the Commissioners' Office. And in it it was deliberately pointed out that these problems, even if they can't be solved this year, cannot go with "zero reply." The Commissioners' Office doesn't want to see a replay of the owners ignoring the players' concerns as with the incident above.

It looks like the Commissioners' Office acknowledges this as a problem. That's a very good sign. Now we just have to wait and see if the owners address this at their next meeting.

A question on the below comment: How much of these improvements are due the player's union, and how much to the spectre of MLB? It seems to me that the MLB strengthens the union's bargaining position, at a bare minimum.

Jim Albright

> However, it's important to note the improvements
> they have made under the leadership of Atsuya
> Furuta. They have gained free agency, they have the
> right to negotiate with agents, and they are forcing
> discussion of more and more issues, which is
> much better than the situation just 10 years ago.

Free agency came about pre-Nomo. Even after Nomo's flight, the "spectre of MLB" was pretty much a non-issue.

Interestingly, this latest proposal avoids touching on the issue of free agency to the Majors. It specificly proposes to lessen the requirements to move to another team in Japan, leaving the current requirements for crossing the Pacific. It makes me think that the MLB is actually being percieved as a problem that has to be worked around and/or avoided when working on a new proposal.

It's less likely that their proposal to lower free agency requirements would be accepted if it were done across the board, treating MLB the same. In that respect, the MLB is kind of a hinderence to their negotiations.

A follow up on this was in yesterday's (Jan. 16) Nikkan Sports. A labor-management panel met at the Commissioner's Office on January 15, 2002 to discuss some of the above player proposals. While straight out 7 years to free agency wasn't met, they are looking to making free agency available to all after 9 or 10 years without the 150 (or so) days of service at 1-gun per year requirement. Furthermore, to make free agents more appealing, the 1.5 times the players' previous yearly salary price tag is also under consideration for reduction.

In a feable attempt to help promote more trades, there was also talk of pushing the trading deadline during the season back a month to June 30th. Considering how few trades there are anyway, I really don't see that having much effect. But as Kuroki said, "Unless you push through something, nothing [in Pro Yakyu] will change."