Liga F players confirm they will strike over pay

Liga F players will strike this weekend and probably next weekend too over pay - specifically, demanding a higher minimum wage.

The players released a statement through five unions including Futpro and the AFE. It reads:

"The member unions of the social bank involved in negotiations to amend and improve the Collective Agreement for First Division women footballers (FUTPRO, AFE, Futbolistas ON, CCOO, and UGT) have decided, following meetings held at the headquarters of the Interconfederal Mediation and Arbitration Service (SIMA Foundation) during this week, that it is necessary to continue with the strike during the first two rounds of the regular league.

We consider the final economic proposal from the F League unacceptable, and all five unions continue to stand firm on the minimum wage proposal that needs to be implemented to ensure that the footballers in our country receive salaries commensurate with their talent. We are surprised and saddened by the position of the employers during the negotiations, which has consistently shown a firm resistance to the proposal put forward by the unions.

As we have been communicating through various statements since 2022, we believe that the figures we are requesting in our economic proposal are entirely affordable given the financial dimension of the F League, which has the following guaranteed revenues:

• 42 million euros from commercial assets.

• 35 million euros from television rights.

• 22.5 million euros through government contributions.

In an attempt to reach an agreement, the unions proposed yesterday morning to reach a one-year salary agreement to call off the strike and continue negotiating the collective agreement.

The employers, after two days of mediation, have remained almost immovable, proposing a salary of 20,000 euros for this season (2023-2024), with the promise of revising the minimum wage again if the F League generates more than 8 million euros in profit from commercial assets this season, in which case it would only increase to 23,000 euros.

The unions believe that any point agreed upon in a collective agreement should not be contingent on a company's commercial achievements because a worker's rights are not a commercial asset.

Given the employers' inflexibility and in an effort to reach a common ground that benefits football activity, the unions, in a final effort, have lowered our proposal for the 2023-2024 season to 23,000 euros and have given up on retroactivity for the 2022-2023 season, with the possibility of reaching 25,000 euros if profits exceed 8 million euros this season. However, the F League has rejected anything above 20,000 euros, making negotiations impossible.

It's important to note that the current minimum wage since 2019 is 16,000 euros, an amount that, with just the inflation adjustment, would rise to 18,554 euros.

We would like to emphasize that in the meetings held this week, only the minimum wage of the players has been discussed, and no other point of the Collective Agreement has been negotiated, which was agreed upon in meetings held in May. Given the stalemate in recent months on this issue, we felt it was crucial to reach an agreement on this part before continuing to negotiate other benefits.

Following a meeting yesterday with the players of the F League, they consider the proposal from the employers unacceptable and are saddened that they have to continue with a strike even after lowering the initial proposal to 23,000 euros annually, which would mean, let's not forget, earning less than the refereeing team.

This is a crucial moment to defend the labor rights of our female footballers and to have the commitment of the institutions that make up the women's football industry to support their development and well-being.

The member unions of the social bank hope that the stance maintained by the employers can change, and a proposal worthy of the footballers playing in our country can be put forward."