Umps to Get Tossed from SkyDome : Baseball: After the Blue Jays’ first homestand, replacements will be barred because of ruling by Ontario Labor Board.

NEW YORK — Replacement umpires will be barred from working at the SkyDome after the Toronto Blue Jays’ first homestand, the Ontario Labor Relations Board said Friday.

The regular umpires have been locked out since their four-year contract expired Dec. 31. Rick MacDowell, chairman of a three-man panel that included Bromley Armstrong and R.W. Pirrie, said in a 13-page decision that Ontario’s law against replacement workers applied in this case.

“The umpires regularly and customarily work in Toronto at the SkyDome and are ‘employees’ within the meaning of the Labour Relations Act and, therefore, individuals to whom the statute applies,” MacDowell said.

MacDowell ruled that owners illegally locked out the umpires in Toronto because neither the teams nor the umpires triggered Ontario’s compulsory conciliation process. He said the decision won’t apply until after next Wednesday’s game.

“This will give the parties an opportunity to consider their legal and collective bargaining positions prior to the Blue Jays’ return to Toronto,” MacDowell said.

If an agreement isn’t reached by the time Toronto starts its second homestand May 9, the regular umpires must work unless the game is moved. In his decision, MacDowell also prohibited them from striking.

“I remain optimistic we will have an agreement with the umpires,” American League President Gene Budig said. “It is my hope that we will have an early resolution of the issue.”

During a hearing in Toronto this week, attorneys for the owners said the Blue Jays might be forced to play their home games in the United States if replacements were barred from working at the SkyDome. When owners contemplated the use of replacement players, the Blue Jays prepared to play regular-season home games at Dunedin, Fla., their spring training site.

The thought of playing in Florida did not sit well in the Blue Jay clubhouse.

“I’m not going to Dunedin,” Toronto outfielder Joe Carter said. “They’re going to have to force me to go back there. They shouldn’t just shut down the Blue Jays and make us play elsewhere.”

Carter said the umpire dispute and Friday’s ruling is just another black mark on the game. “We had the strike, the labor negotiations, the umpire lockout and now this,” he said. “It has just taken all the fun out of the game.”

* Staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report from Toronto.