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Leagues and Governing Bodies

SPORTS UNIONS MORE FAT-CAT THAN WORKING-CLASS

     Financial reports filed with the U.S. Labor Dept. by three
of the major pro sports unions -- MLBPA, NBPA and NFLPA -- "offer
a snapshot of how much these unions are worth, how they acquire
money and how they spend it," according to Mike Freeman of the
N.Y. TIMES.  "With assets in the tens and, in the case of
baseball, hundreds of millions of dollars, sports unions have
been able to ease the burden of dues on players, pay their
leaders as if they were CEO's and build fat war chests to fight
longer and harder during times of labor strife."  No report was
available for the NHLPA, which is based in Canada.
                                 LEADER'S    NO. OF   AVG. MEMBER
     UNION     LEADER             SALARY     MEMBERS     SALARY
     NFLPA     Gene Upshaw      $1,236,443    2,000     $750,000
     MLBPA     Don Fehr           $950,000      800       $1.2M
     NBPA      Charles Grantham   $550,307      400       $1.5M
     AFL-CIO   Lane Kirkland      $204,672    13.3M      $30,784
     UNION          DUES COLLECTED      LICENSING REVENUE
     NFLPA            $7,157,187           $17,604,759
     MLBPA            $3,936,610           $74,826,917
     NBPA             $1,731,866               -0-
     AFL-CIO         $62,839,305           not applicable
     QUOTES:  Union finances specialist Gary Edwards:  "Few
people, if any, in the history of the union movement have earned
the kind of money sports union leaders do."  Teamsters President
Ron Carey:  "Even if I had four million members or 10 million
members I personally could not accept a salary of $1 million or
even close to it. ... But that's me.  They may have different
priorities and needs that I am not aware of."  While several MLB
players said they were not aware Fehr made that much, Fehr
responded:  "Everybody knows.  It's in the reports."  Upshaw,
whose salary is decided by an executive council of current and
former players:  "I don't set my salary.  If I did, I would have
paid myself more because I'm worth more.  It's about what you
bring to the table.  This union has brought peace to the sport"
(N.Y. TIMES, 3/21).

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