Many minor league umpires required an extra job or two during the off-season to make ends meet.
When it was time to renew the expired contract, the AMLU umpires demanded salary increases, which the PBUC was unwilling to pay.
Because the umpires spent the five-month season on the road, living in hotels and eating in restaurants, their daily food and gas expenses could not be met with the 2006 per diem rate first proposed by PBUC.
The deal also included a proposal to raise the deductible for the umpires' health insurance from $100 to $500, reducing the effective amount of the salary hike.
AMLU made an announcement on March 24, 2006, that they had filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB against PBUC.
Management (PBUC) issued a statement that they had made their best and final offer, and then announced that they would continue the season, implying that they would use replacement umpires in the place of the professional AMLU workers.
Tim Timmons, Randy Marsh, Ángel Hernández, Hunter Wendelstedt and Sam Holbrook arrived in the picket line outside of Cooper Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, to strike alongside AMLU umpires.
One of the most publicized mishaps involving the replacements occurred on April 26 during a game in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
After striking out at the plate, a frustrated Delmon Young of the Durham Bulls threw his bat at an umpire in response to what he thought was a bad call.
The bat hit the umpire, bringing criticism from Minor League Baseball and earning Young a 50-game suspension.
[9] In another incident, Birmingham Barons manager Chris Cron walked out in anger with his team in the eighth inning of a game against the Jacksonville Suns after the benches were vacated three separate times.
After being ejected from a game on May 1, Ottawa Lynx manager Dave Trembley declared the replacement umpire’s performance as “the worst officiating [he had] ever seen in 20 years of professional baseball.
[10] Both AMLU lawyer Robert Weaver and a National League scout criticized the skills of the replacements.
[4] Through the use of collective bargaining and their labor strike, umpires were able to negotiate an increase to their per diem payments by $3, up to a maximum of $40 depending on the league.
Pat O'Conner stated that he was "happy to have reached a deal that will assure labor peace with [the] umpires through the 2011 season.