June 12, 1981 – CBS World News Roundup + Newsbreak + Hourly News – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
June 12, 1981 – America‘s Great National Pastime took a vacation this day. With talks between Players and Team Owners breaking down one last time, a strike was called and the 1981 Baseball season was put on hold, maybe indefinitely.
The issue at hand was a dispute between players and owners over the owners plan to restrict free movement of players among the teams. Although another bargaining session was slated for this morning, The Players Association, The Owners Committee and even the Federal mediator saw little hope in any games being played this day. The two sides couldn’t break the impasse over the issue of compensation for free agents, so Marvin Miller the players negotiator, issued the gloomy announcement and the strike was on. The fans were suitably pissed and open hostility was envisioned. In any case, there would be no joy in Mudville today.
And there was other news – The UN Security Council took of Iraq‘s complaint against Israel over the recent Israeli raid over Iraq’s Nuclear installation. The Security council was to begin debate this afternoon with Iraq and Israel stating their bitterly conflicting positions. It was not yet clear what Iraq and its friends wanted the Security Council to do. There were demands for mandatory sanctions to curb what the Arabs called “Zionist aggression”, such breaking off Diplomatic relations with Israel and giving it no economic, political or military/technical help. But it seemed certain the United Nations members would veto any such drastic move, with Britain probably and France possibly joining in. So Iraq would possibly seek endorsement of its own peaceful nuclear program. More would surely be revealed as the day went on.
And news that Billy Carter, former President Jimmy Carter‘s brother was in hot water again. This time with a hefty IRS bill of some $105,000 in unpaid taxes, so they seized all of Billy’s property, including his home and 58 acres of land with a scheduled auction slated to take place on June 27th.
And that’s just a drop in the bucket to what went on, this June 12th in 1981 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup, Newsbreak and the CBS Radio Hourly news.
