Fehr to step down as head of players' union

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Fehr, the hard-nosed chief of Major League Baseball Players' Association (MLBPA), said on Monday he would step down, ending nearly 25 years of overseeing one of the sporting world's most powerful unions.
Players' association general counsel Michael Weiner will take over for Fehr, pending board approval.
"It has been a high privilege to be entrusted with the leadership of this extraordinary union for the last 25 years, and I am enormously proud of what the players have accomplished during that time," Fehr said in a statement.
"But now, about two years before the next round of collective bargaining, is the right time for me to relinquish my position and for the players to name new leadership.
"Accordingly, I have informed members of the executive board I will resign effective not later than next March 31."
Fehr, who went to work for the union as general counsel in 1977 and was elected executive director in 1985, gave no reason for his decision other than it was "time to go."
Over his 32 years with the MLBPA, Fehr crossed swords with five Major League Baseball commissioners, including current chief Bud Selig, who acknowledged their differences.
"For more than 25 years, Don has represented his constituency with passion, loyalty and great diligence," Selig said in a statement. "Although we have had our differences, I have always respected his role.
"In recent years, we have worked together to find common ground for the betterment of the game, which will have resulted in 16 years of unprecedented labor peace by the end of our current collective bargaining agreement.
"We hope to continue to build upon the game's prosperity as we work with the new leadership."
Under Fehr's watch, players' salaries have increased tenfold from an average of about $300,000 to over $3 million this season, gains won through three work stoppages including a 1994 players' strike that forced the cancellation of the World Series.
Fehr waged a fierce fight to keep owners from enforcing a salary cap, won the collusion cases of the 1980s and fought off efforts to reduce the size of the two leagues in 2002.
Baseball has enjoyed labor peace in recent years but Fehr exits under a cloud with the sport facing a doping crisis that has been laid at the feet of the union and its refusal to agree to tough drug-testing.
"We have had some good times and some difficult times over the years," said Fehr.
"Over all of those years, players remained unified, involved, and absolutely determined to achieve fair agreements.
"That is what counted. That is what will count in the years to come."
(Writing by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

Source: Reuters