NEW YORK -- Umpires still aligned with ousted leader Richie Phillips filed objections Tuesday to last week's union election, accusing baseball owners of illegally helping the new labor group gain power.

The Major League Umpires Association, headed by Phillips for the past 21 years, said owners and the new union had secretly agreed to a new labor contract. Until the new union is certified by the NLRB, it can't negotiate with owners for a labor contract to replace the one that expires Dec. 31.

Phillips' union also accused owners of threatening umpires unless they voted for the new union and of providing help to the new group.

His union, supported by most National League umpires, has until Dec. 14 to submit its evidence to the National Labor Relations Board.

"After we see the evidence, we'll decide whether to set it for a hearing or decide it administratively," said Daniel Silverman, the NLRB's New York regional director.

Phillips was dumped in a 57-35 vote, with one ballot disqualified because an umpire signed his ballot.

The new union, called the Major League Umpires Independent Organizing Committee, is supported by most American League umpires and some from the NL.

A two-page letter sent to Silverman by Stephen Holroyd, a lawyer for MLUA, said the new union "had already been bargaining with the employer" and said it "advised employees of what it described as an already agreed-upon collective bargaining agreement."

Management lawyer Frank Coonelly said: "There's absolutely no merit to any of the charges the association has made against the leagues. There were no negotiations."

Phillips and MLUA lawyer Pat Campbell did not respond to telephone messages.

Ron Shapiro, an adviser to the insurgent union, said his side would answer the charges if asked to do so by Silverman.

Holroyd said owners illegally affected the election by "threatening to act in a disparate and harsher manner" to umpires if they voted to retain Phillips "while at the same time promising harmonious and beneficial bargaining" if the new union were picked.

"The leagues have negotiated for decades with the umpires' association and its current leader," Coonelly said, "and were prepared to continue that collective bargaining relationship if that was the will of the umpires."

The umpires split into factions last July after Phillips called for mass resignations to force an early start to bargaining.

Most AL umpires refused to quit and quickly withdrew their resignations, causing the strategy to collapse. By that time, owners had hired 25 new umps from the minors, and they then accepted the resignations of 22 umps, effective Sept. 2.

Phillips' union has filed a grievance claiming the 22 were let go illegally. Arbitrator Alan Symonette starts hearing the grievance Monday in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, the insurgent umps organized and petitioned the NLRB to hold an election forming a new union.