Minor League Baseball players seek to unionize, this week in the war on workers

While a few baseball players make headline-grabbing amounts of money, 40% of MLB players make the league minimum of $570,000 during careers that average just four years, and during which many spend significant chunks of time in the minor leagues, Kelly Candaele and Peter Dreier reported earlier in the year,L during the MLB’s lockout of players. And in the minor leagues? Most players earn less than $14,000 per season.

Now, minor league players are moving to unionize. This week, the Major League Baseball Players Association announced that more than half of minor league players had voted to unionize, and asked the league to voluntarily recognize the union. The MLBPA also moved to affiliate itself with the AFL-CIO, which suggests the union is gearing up to take on the league.