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Leagues and Governing Bodies

USMNT Players Take Strong Stance Against USSF On Women's Pay

The union called for the USSF to significantly increase the pay for the USWNT in their next CBAGETTY IMAGES

The USMNT's players' union made its "strongest statement yet about the state of labor relations between U.S. Soccer and the men's and women's national teams," as it issued a statement yesterday "blasting the federation for what it described as selling a 'false narrative to the public and even to members of Congress,'" according to Paul Kennedy of SOCCER AMERICA. The men's union said that the federation has "discriminated against" USWNT players and "called for the federation to significantly increase the pay of the women" in their next CBA to take effect in '22. The statement "calls on the federation to triple the pay of the women" in their next CBA "compared to what it agreed to pay the men" in their CBA reached in '11. It also "calls on 'the courts, juries, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Congress, new Federation leadership or a combination of all five' to reform the federation" and asks U.S. Soccer sponsors to "not support the federation until there's a new CBA that pays a fair share of national team game and commercial revenues" (SOCCERAMERICA.com, 2/13).

ABUSE OF POWER: GOAL.com noted the men's statement goes on to allege that U.S. Soccer uses its "monopoly control" as "'a weapon' in negotiations." The union stated that it is "not uncommon for players to play under expired" CBAs for up to two years. The statement alleges that "neither the men nor the women are paid fair value," adding that the USWNT "faces unique pressures from the federation." U.S. Soccer "controls the NWSL as well as the USWNT, giving the federation power over players' careers for both club and country." U.S. Soccer "subsidizes the NWSL, and the league would not exist without its financial support" (GOAL.com, 2/12).

BURYING THE LEDE: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Rachel Bachman notes the players' position "appears to have been prompted by what it says is the federation's current negotiating position: that the U.S. men's team's compensation should stay at the level it was" during its '11-18 agreement. The union's statement said the federation's position is a "desperate attempt to cover up the fact that what they did to the women" in '17 is "indefensible." Bachman notes the U.S. women "signed their current labor deal" in 17 and it "runs through" '21 (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/13). The men then said the correct comparison should be between what the women got with their '17-21 deal and "triple what the federation agreed to pay the men" in '11 or "whatever the men negotiate in their new CBA that will be retroactive" to Jan. 1, 2019 (AP, 2/12).

HIDDEN AGENDA? YAHOO SPORTS' Leander Schaerlaeckens asked, "Why now? Why is the United States men's national team suddenly so invested in the women's equal pay fight?" For "almost four years, the USWNT has been in a very public fight for equal pay with the men's national team." All the while, the USMNT was "virtually silent." The "timing is so cynical that it's practically insulting." The USMNT has "not responded to multiple CBA offers from the federation -- the most recent one coming late last year," adding that negotiations have "effectively stalled, insofar as they've begun at all." Schaerlaeckens: "The sudden interest in the women's national team's fight for more pay, then, appears to be entirely self-serving" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/12).

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