Ending 26 years of "labor peace," Major League Baseball is in the midst of a lockout. With league owners failing to address the core contract issues raised by the Major League Baseball Players Association, the previous collective bargaining agreement expired at the beginning of this month. In an open letter to baseball fans, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stated, "Despite the league's best efforts to make a deal with the Players Association, we were unable to extend our 26 year-long history of labor peace and come to an agreement with the MLBPA before the current CBA expired. Therefore, we have been forced to commence a lockout of Major League players, effective at 12:01am ET on December 2." Has the league made its "best efforts" to bargain in good faith? Were wealthy team owners really "forced to commence a lockout"? We smell BS... In this episode, we're joined by Alex Bazeley and Bobby Wagner, hosts of the podcast Tipping Pitches, to break down the labor politics in today's MLB and what the lockout means for players and fans alike.

Additional links/info below...

• Tipping Pitches website, Twitter page, and fan shop
• Alex's Twitter page
• Bobby's Twitter page
• Dayn Perry, CBS Sports, "MLB lockout: Fact-Checking Commissioner Rob Manfred's Open Letter to Baseball Fans"
• James Wagner, The New York Times, "M.L.B.'s Lockout: What Is It? How Does It Work? What's Next?"
• Nathan Kalman-Lamb & Dirk Hayhurst, Jacobin, "'Inside the Game, You Are Still a Commodity'"
• Working People, "Mini-cast: Suicide Squeeze (w/ Nathan Kalman-Lamb)"

Kellogg's strike links/info below...

• Working People YouTube channel
• Look for updates on the Dec. 17 livestream/fundraiser on the Working People Twitter page and Morning Riot Twitter page
• Maximilian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Breakfast of champions: Kellogg's cereal workers strike for employees who have been left behind"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "How companies like Kellogg's are weaponizing the courts to break strikes"
• Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Kellogg's strike: Cereal plant workers fight to raise the floor for all employees as sales soar"
• Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Kellogg's strikers hold the line and prepare for winter"
• Sahid Fawaz, Labor 411, "Five Ways To Support The Kellogg Strike"

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"