The employers and unions staged on Wednesday the signing of the first collective agreement of the Women's Soccer League. An agreement that took 14 months and 26 days of hard negotiations, 29 meetings and a strike that completely paralyzed the competition in mid-November. The rough journey until this moment is only up to the importance of the pact. This is the first working text of these characteristics in a European women's soccer championship. 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.
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Free way to sign the women's football agreement
Pre-agreement for the agreement
However, there was not even peace after initiation. At the act of the morning in the Superior Council of Sports (CSD) the majority union, the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE), that will only go to the Congress of Deputies this afternoon. Yes came the other union, Futbolistas ON, and the employer. “We have invited everyone, this is the house of sport, I don't know what will have happened. It does not have the greatest relevance, ”said Irene Lozano, the president of the CSD, who wanted to avoid the controversy. "Today is a real historical day for women athletes, not a way of speaking," he added. The highest representative of the Club Association, Rubén Alcaine, valued the agreement. "We very much wanted the players and clubs," he said. And Tamara Ramos, the manager of the other union, Futbolistas ON, said that if this point has been reached, it is “thanks to the strike”. “We have laid the first stone. From here, to continue improving, ”he said.
For the first time, a fixed text black on white the working conditions of soccer players. For example, it is stipulated that the minimum salary is 16,000 euros full-time and 12,000 part-time. In the event that a player who finishes joining a club becomes pregnant, she may renew for another season under the same conditions. Breastfeeding, at the moment, is not contemplated in this framework. And in order for a member of the subsidiary to apply the agreement, he must at least call 12 games and play 10.
For a year, the conversations revolved almost monothematically about the minimum wage and bias. Such was the traffic jam that the negotiations broke down and everything ended in a strike after government mediation failed. Day seven, scheduled for November 16 and 17, was not disputed because in the entire First Division only one soccer player appeared in the stadium according to the arbitration records (Maddi Torre, of the Royal Society). That was, at least outside the door, the moment of greatest crisis. Then, the parties chose to cool the situation and take a month of truce to try to reach an agreement.
And the pact came on the horn, on December 20. The employer and the unions finally shook hands in a law firm in the center of Madrid and were placed, at the latest, on January 20 to carry out the signature. At that time the last fringe had to be closed, and not less: how to deal with the economic cost of the text, 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, faced on several fronts. The pact was tried during the last two months, but it was not possible and the players' tiredness was high. In the final of the Spanish Super Cup and in the eight eighth matches of the Copa de la Reina they organized a protest: stand on the grass for the first 30 seconds. A warning with the possibility of another strike flying over the environment. In the end, the solution came for an extra economic injection of Mediapro (100,000 euros for those sets for this course and two more). A patch that made possible, with two months of delay, the signing of the collective agreement, although it keeps the television war in the background alive. The text is valid for one year, renewable, and will be executed retroactively from the beginning of this season.
Key points of the text
Partiality . All partial contracts will be set at 75%, a red line marked by the unions.
Minimum wage. 16,000 euros full-time and 12,000 part-time. Those players with a part-time contract and who charge less than 30,000 euros, in addition to seeing their partiality rise to 75%, will also have financial compensation. Those who now receive between 12,000 and 15,999 euros will go to 16,000. And those between 16,000 and 30,000 will enjoy a linear increase of 2,000 euros. These amounts will be increased at each annual renewal of the CPI plus 2%.
Pregnancy Footballers who terminate the contract and become pregnant may renew for another season under the same conditions.
Subsidiaries For a player of a subsidiary team to apply the agreement must, at least, be called 12 games and play 10.
Concentrations The duration may not exceed 24 hours when the match is played at home and 72 hours when outside. This calculation also includes travel times. In addition, the entity's advertising and institutional acts will be considered working time.
Plus for seniority. Footballers who have stayed six or more seasons on the same team will charge a bonus when they leave. This will be 2,000 euros with six permanency campaigns; 2,500 with seven courses; 3,000 in the case of eight; and 3,500 euros with nine years.
Total disability If a player is totally disabled as a direct result of football, the club must compensate her with 90,000 euros, and with 60,000 euros to her heirs in case of death.
Work and sexual harassment . The text states generically that clubs and unions commit to avoid situations of sexual, psychological or ethnic harassment due to ethnic, religious or racial origin.
Holidays 30 calendar days, of which 21 will be followed. If a player plays a championship with her team, the club can agree with her not to have 21 days continuously if the preseason starts earlier. The weekly rest is fixed, at least, in a day and a half in a row. There will be no matches from December 23 to January 3. Exceptionally, they can only train on December 31 until two in the afternoon.
Image rights The player must negotiate this clause with her club.
Validity and application of the agreement . With retroactive character, it has a start date on July 1, 2019 and lasts for a year that can be extended season by season. Barcelona, Athletic and Tacón, although they have not participated in the negotiations as they do not belong to the Club Association, are also obliged to execute it.
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