Sports Administration officials yesterday pledged to publish Chinese Professional Baseball League financial reports and require the inclusion of players’ union officials at meetings planning next year’s World Baseball Classic, following union complaints.
Speaking at a news conference convened by New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), union president Hu Chin-Lung (胡金龍) said insurance and profit-sharing for Taiwanese players in international games are in stark contrast with that of their international counterparts, calling for his union to be allowed a greater role in negotiating player benefits.
“All that we really want is a little respect so that we know that the league is not unnecessarily cutting corners while we are fighting for the nation,” said Hu, a former Los Angeles Dodgers player, citing an incident during the 2013 World Baseball Classic when national team players were allegedly not served breakfast.
He said his union should have the right to serve as a mediator between the league and team members, also calling for improved player benefits including image rights, profit sharing agreements and better insurance.
“Players are often scared of being injured because the average career is very short — so our attitude is to play as hard as we can to earn as much as we can in the shortest time possible,” Hu said, adding that insurance for participating in international competitions only covers salary deductions for injured players, with a NT$500,000 (US$15,722) cap.
“So far we have not been invited to participate in a single meeting” on 2017 World Baseball Classic preparations, union spokesman Chao Tzu-wei (趙子維) said, adding that while virtually all professional baseball players are union members, lack of legal protection put them at a disadvantage when negotiating with the league.
Baseball players are not included in the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), making it almost impossible to strike, particularly because most players sign individual one-year contracts and are not entitled to any severance benefits, he said.
Last year was the first in many that the league turned a profit, leading to player demands for better pay and benefits.
National Taiwan Sport University legal professor Lee Hsiao-ti (李孝悌) called for the Sports Administration to establish an independent arbitration body to allow players to resolve conflicts with the league.
“We have to move toward accepting the idea that people have ‘competition rights,’ rather than sports being the responsibility of the government and the duty of citizens,” he said, adding that independent arbitration can increase players’ bargaining power by allowing them to avoid the drawn-out legal process over competition bans.
Lee also called for greater transparency in the spending of government subsidies, adding that it was often unclear how much funding was actually used to the benefit of athletes.
Hsu said that while government subsidies were NT$30 million last year, actual funding was NT$100 million.
A Sports Administration-sponsored audit found discrepancies between revenue figures reported to the administration and those reported to the National Taxation Bureau.
Sports Administration competitive sports division deputy director Lan Kun-tien (藍坤田) pledged to publish financial reports submitted by the league on the administrations Web site.
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