The World Umpires Association was certified by the National Labor Relation board on Feb. 24, 2000, and became the negotiating arm of the umpires. Its first president was John Hirschbeck, who was replaced by veteran umpire Joe West this past April.
The certification came after the dissolution of the old union -- the Major League Umpires Association. In 1999, led by president Richie Phillips, 50 of the 66 umpires resigned as a negotiating ploy to move along collective bargaining. Some rescinded their resignations, but MLB ultimately accepted the resignation of 22 umpires, thus breaking that union.
Since then, 11 of those 22 umpires have been reinstated, including Bob Davidson, Tom Hallion and Ed Hickox, who were added during the negotiations of 2004.
Thus, MLB concludes the decade for the first time since the 1960s without a work stoppage involving either the players or the umpires. Under the leadership of Rob Manfred, MLB's executive vice president of labor relations and human resources, the owners have negotiated successfully with unions of both entities four times since the players threatened to strike for the last time in 2002.