NEW YORK -- As baseball players resumed their grievance to stop owners from eliminating teams, union head Donald Fehr said Thursday that bargaining for a new labor contract will probably start next week.

Commissioner Bud Selig gave Fehr a brief outline of what owners want on Dec. 3, but management hasn't made any formal proposals. Fehr said that week that Selig gave him "three or four sentences of ideas scratched out on the back of a piece of paper."

"They have recapitulated that in a letter without any significantly greater detail," Fehr said Thursday. "We'll see what happens."

Fehr said talks probably would start Tuesday or Wednesday. Rob Manfred, management's chief labor lawyer, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

Baseball has had eight work stoppages since 1972, and the most recent collective bargaining agreement expired Nov. 7.

Selig said after an owners meeting on Nov. 27 that "we have no plans to lock out players. It's not even on my radar screen." Players have not considered taking a strike vote.

Owners are to meet again in Phoenix on Jan. 16-17, less than a month before the scheduled start of spring training.

Management could make its central economic proposal public at the Phoenix meetings. The plan is expected to stick closely to the outline Selig's economic study committee recommended in July 2000: a 50 percent luxury tax on payrolls above $84 million; doubling the amount of shared local revenue to between 40 and 50 percent per team after ballpark expenses; and a minimum payroll of $40 million.

The union is expected to resist any luxury tax that acts as a salary cap and any vast increase in revenue sharing that would decrease the amount wealthy clubs can spend on players.

At the hearing, union lawyer Michael Weiner was Thursday's lone witness.

"They've got a few more questions, but I don't think too many more," said union lawyer Steve Fehr, Donald's brother.

If Weiner concludes his testimony Friday, Donald Fehr is expected to be the next witness. The hearing then will recess until Jan. 10.

The union claims the owners' Nov. 6 vote to eliminate two teams violated the labor contract that expired the following day and remains in force.

While owners didn't identify the franchises to be folded, Minnesota and Montreal are the likely candidates.

Selig's contraction plan has been stalled by a Minnesota injunction that forces the Twins to fulfill their 2002 lease at the Metrodome. The Minnesota Court of Appeals could rule as early as Friday on the appeal by the Twins and baseball to lift the injunction.

The Twins called a Friday news conference to announce a new manager, and third-base coach Ron Gardenhire is expected to get the job.