Baseball body rejects players' union but offers dialogue

SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's baseball governing body flatly opposed
players' demands to establish a union but said it is open to dialogue to discuss
their grievances, an official with the governing body said Thursday.
The Korea Professional Baseball Players' Association (KPBPA), an informal group
of all 463 players in the country's eight professional teams, announced Wednesday
that it will reorganize as a labor union to become a legal negotiating partner
with the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).
"All (KBO) board members agreed that they would not allow a players' union," Lee
Sang-il from the KBO general affairs office told reporters after an executive
meeting among club owners.
"But we will meet players to discuss other requests by the KPBPA," Lee said. "The
board concluded that we will engage in consultations with them."
He added that allowing players to hire an agent to negotiate contracts and
banning unilateral trade, some of the key demands by the players' association,
were discussed at Thursday's meeting.
In 2000, the KBO and the clubs allowed players to set up the KPBPA on condition
that it remain a private organization with no legal negotiating power.
The KPBPA rebuked the proposal by the governing body, however, and said it will
go ahead with its plans to form a union.
"I don't see why they suddenly want dialogue," Kwon Si-hyeong, general director
of the KPBPA, said. "We do not need their approval to form a union."
Kwon also criticized the KBO for appointing its former official, Lee Sang-gook,
as general director in charge of business matters for the organization. Kwon
claimed Lee played a major role in blocking the launch of the KPBPA in 2000.
brk@yna.co.kr
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