The players of the first Spanish football league (Primera Iberdrola) called for a strike. The players' association and the association of clubs had not been able to agree on a collective agreement after more than a year of negotiations. On Tuesday, 93 percent of the 180 players present who had met at a Madrid hotel voted for a walkout.
"We have been negotiating for more than a year and there have been 18 meetings and negotiations are stagnating," former Spanish goalkeeper Ainoa Tirapu told Radio Marca. The first meeting took place on 4 October 2018. The players' association demands that they be treated like their male counterparts.
"We're 100% footballers because we go to bed early, when we exercise, we pay attention to what we eat, we're available for club dates," Tirapu said. "Our goal is to reach an agreement on 75 Percent daily wage and sign full-time contracts next year, "Tirapu said. 75 percent would correspond to an annual salary of 12,000 euros.
"What players need is an employment contract that guarantees their rights - they are full-time footballers," said David Aganzo, president of the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE), in a statement. "We not only fight for ourselves, but for future generations as well," emphasized Tirapu.
The facts are comparable to those of US footballers. The US girls' lawsuit against their national association for discrimination and equal pay as their male counterparts will be heard in court in May next year.
The World Champions for star player Megan Rapinoe had taken legal action at the beginning of March because of their lower pay and poorer working conditions compared to the US men. As a result, negotiations with the association over an agreement in a dead end had ended.