Not even after the signing of the historic collective agreement of the Women's Soccer League the parties agreed for the easiest, the photo. At the ceremony this Wednesday morning in the Higher Sports Council (CSD), the majority union, the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE), attended the Congress of Deputies in the afternoon. The gesture illustrates the tortuous path to agree on a text that required 14 months and 26 days of negotiations, 29 meetings, a strike that paralyzed the competition and almost an extra quarter of waiting because not all clubs had funding to bear their cost. “It has been very hard, I didn't think it was going to be that much. In the end, this has come out because we have both wanted and we have claudicated ”, recognizes AFE lawyer María José López, a reference in the matter, who smiles shyly when asked if she represented the hard branch of her side.
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The unions and the employers sign the historic agreement of the Women's Soccer League
Free track for heading
Pre-agreement for the agreement
The project went ahead because, because of the symbolism it contained, everyone knew that failure was not an option. But he always lived to the limit. He was caught in the middle of the great war Thebes-Rubials (League-Federation), and had to face the union division and endless and very hard meetings, deep down and in the forms. “In some there was disrespect between the parties. It was all very tense, ”says the top representative of the employer, Rubén Alcaine, who takes a trance of a completely gray hair and not less than a hundred trips in AVE Madrid-Zaragoza (he is vice president of a family club in the Aragonese capital) . "After those meetings, sometimes days passed without contact between us," he says.
For not having, there was no attempt to create a whatsapp group that brought together all and Christmas only congratulated them with the pre-agreement closed. "We have not made best friends beyond cordiality," he admits. The roughness of the route only lived up to the importance of the agreement. This is the first in a European Women's Soccer League. A social milestone that transcends the purely sporting environment because, in addition, it happens in a practice that for a century was considered the exclusive terrain of men.
Before the final agreement of December 20, there were at least three or four threats. One Friday in November, David Aganzo, president of AFE, took off to Sydney to a FIFPro world congress. And just after stepping on Australian soil, after 24 hours of travel negotiating at 10,000 feet, the first thing he did was buy the return ticket. He had been warned that peace was near. However, when he appeared by surprise at the headquarters of the General Employment Secretariat, with almost no one waiting for him, the scenario had turned again. The pact was not possible and government mediation had failed. That's how frustrating everything has always been.
“In some meetings there was disrespect between the parties. It was all very tense, ”confesses the president of the employer
They had been stuck in the minimum wage and partiality for more than a year. “It is hard to explain to people how you can have 20 meetings on these two points without reaching anything. They were tense and tense, they diverted to another subject and then return to these, ”says Alcaine. That crisis and the failed intervention of the Executive resulted in the strike of November 16 and 17, the great ordago of the players.
"Until 24 or 48 hours before we did not have the certainty that all would stop", confesses María José López, despite the fact that the protest had been approved by 90% of the 200 footballers attending an assembly at a five-star hotel in Madrid. “Everyone was clear that something had to be done, but not that that was necessarily a strike. The differences between the players were great. Some charged 30,000 euros and others, only 7,000. There is also a high number of foreigners. Achieving this principle of solidarity was important, ”adds the AFE representative. From Futbolistas ON, the other union signing the text, its manager, Tamara Ramos, claims that they were "the first" to "talk about unemployment before the surprise of AFE." The division on this side of the table was a fact and hardly concealed. “They wanted to exclude UGT and us from the negotiation. And in the first meetings, they blatantly slowed any point, ”he denounces.
The strike came on the seventh day of First with absolute follow-up. Only one footballer, Maddi Torre, of Real Sociedad, went that weekend to the stadium according to the arbitration records. However, the negotiation entered the abyss. This was understood by both parties, who decided to cool the conflict and take a month of truce. December 20 was the deadline and until that day everything was stretched. Last week, the meetings rose in level and tone. "We bring a briefcase and ask for the second one," was heard in the halls of the headquarters of UGT in full fray one day after ten hours in a row of conversations.
"Until 24 or 48 hours before we were not sure that all would go on strike," admit AFE
But there was no other way out than the agreement. In an office in the center of Madrid, on a pre-emptive Friday that was humming in the capital, the peace was signed with the feeling that the final figures were closer to the requests of the players (16,000 euros of minimum salary and 12,000 in case of workday partial) that to the starting point of the employer (14,000 and 7,000 euros). So yes, Christmas was congratulated, although with a last minute leave: UGT did not sign because it disagreed with a clause on how to renew the agreement.
Those who did were placed, at the latest, on January 20 for the rubric. At that time the last fringe had to be closed, and not less: how to deal with the economic cost because the clubs had already warned that the more modest entities did not have a financial cushion for it. The plan was that the 12 teams that had signed a television contract with Mediapro could assign their rights to the Spanish Football Federation, which promised twice as much money for that concept. That implied a complex agreement between the institution chaired by Luis Rubiales and the producer, confronted without quarter.
“I sat them twice in front of afrente. It was weird to see them at the same table. When I had them there, I told them: 'Look on the bright side, for the first time you will receive an email from the other that it will not be a demand or a burofax, ”recalls the president of the employer, who also does not forget the "Two encerronas" broadcast on streaming that says he suffered from the Federation. However, the entente proved impossible. The solution finally came through Mediapro, and the extra 100,000 euros to a dozen teams. End to 500 days of via crucis that at many times muddled the desired expansion of women's football.
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