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June 14 (UPI) -- Major League Baseball owners are scheduling a conference call Monday to discuss their next course of action in the ongoing labor dispute. League sources told USA Today Sports and ESPN on Sunday that owners will hold the teleconference in response to the MLB Players Association's decision to reject the league's latest proposal to start the 2020 season.
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On Saturday, the MLBPA informed MLB it is done negotiating and demanded an answer by Monday.
"In recent days, owners have decried the supposed unprofitability of owning a baseball team and the commissioner [Rob Manfred] has repeatedly threatened to schedule a dramatically shortened season unless players agreed to hundreds of millions in further concessions," MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said in a statement.
"Our response has been consistent that such concessions are unwarranted, would be fundamentally unfair to players, and that our sport deserves the fullest 2020 season possible. These remain our positions today, particularly in light of new reports regarding MLB's national television rights -- information we requested from the league weeks ago but were never provided.
"As a result, it unfortunately appears that further dialogue with the league would be futile. It's time to get back to work. Tell us when and where."
An agreement between the owners and the union in March allows MLB to set a schedule, and the league has suggested that if the sides can't reach an agreement it could impose a schedule of about 50 games and pay players full prorated salaries worth about $1.25 billion.
The league's latest proposal to the players' union included 72 games with 70 percent of their full prorated pay guaranteed and up to 83 percent after the postseason is finished, according to ESPN.
The $1.5 billion total was the highest offered by the league, but it still fell short of the full rate players were looking for after losing salary for the games missed so far due to the coronavirus pandemic.
