WASHINGTON - Baseball's bitter labor battle headed toward the courtroom Friday as owners and players failed to negotiate a last-minute settlement Thursday.
Owners announced about 10:30 p.m. ET that they would impose their final salary cap proposal as of 12:01 a.m. ET.
This came after owners rejected a counterproposal submitted by the union at 2 p.m. ET Thursday, saying that the proposed secondary payroll tax would have created only an additional $600,000.
"The way the proposal was structured, it was unacceptable," said John Harrington, owners' chief negotiator.
The players union will file an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board as early as Friday - the 19th anniversary of free agency. The union will ask the NLRB to seek an injunction against the cap in federal court.
"If this is the road they want to take, this is going to be an ugly situation," Detroit's Cecil Fielder said.
Union chief Don Fehr said it has been clear since June where this battle was headed. "We were told tonight that no proposal we made would have ever been accepted unless it was the equivalent of a salary cap," he said.
"This is a sad day. I think the owners will come to regret it - sooner than they think."
Mediator Bill Usery, who was appointed by Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Oct. 14, said he reluctantly recessed the talks and will report to Reich today. "It was very unfortunate that we have been unable to consummate an agreement," Usery said. "Tonight there was no use to go any further."
"We have tried for months to reach an agreement with the players' union," said interim Commissioner Bud Selig. "The union never bargained over the central issue, which was creating a relationship between player payrolls and club revenues."
Said Fehr: "This is not only not over, it's not even halftime yet."
