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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThis MLB power couple is fighting to save 200 union jobs
"Those caps in Cooperstown? They were made in Derby. Its an iconic symbol."
LINDSAY GIBBS
FEB 20, 2019, 8:00 AM
It all started so innocently.
On Sunday night, Eireann Dolan the wife of Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle was in the car with her husband doing some research on official MLB hats, because her friend was interested in buying one for his son.
But when she searched for New Era the official manufacturer of baseball caps for Major League Baseball for nearly 60 years articles immediately popped up about the company closing its unionized shop in Derby, New York, and moving to a non-union shop in Flordia. More than 200 workers are scheduled to lose their jobs as a result.
Its basically union busting, plain and simple, Dolan told ThinkProgress in a phone interview on Tuesday afternoon. The only people wearing [the New Era caps made in Derby] are the players, and these are the players in the union, so we want to make sure theyre wearing caps that are made by people earning a union wage.
MLB has an exclusive contract with New Era for its caps. Most of the caps New Era makes for the MLB the ones that fans buy are made overseas. But the contract stipulates that hats worn by players during games must be made in America.
https://thinkprogress.org/baseball-couple-union-campaign-003ec8963027/
Its basically union busting, plain and simple, Dolan told ThinkProgress in a phone interview on Tuesday afternoon. The only people wearing [the New Era caps made in Derby] are the players, and these are the players in the union, so we want to make sure theyre wearing caps that are made by people earning a union wage.
Now if the public stands behind this and demands that the hats be made in this country......................
Mosby
(16,416 posts)mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)Although I'd wager that if the players join in the fight to save Derby, and they succeed ... that it wouldn't cause a huge upswing of fans asking for, and being willing to pay a premium for ... the REAL hats that the players wear, made in Derby by Union workers (maybe include a little 'Derby' logo somewhere on the one's made there so their 'status' is obvious ... people like that when spending extra $$$).
But for now, what they need is the PLAYERS making a stand, publicly.