Canada Soccer Releases Details Of Proposed Labour Agreement
By Mere hours before the Canadian Women’s national team players were set to testify at the House of Commons, Canada Soccer released the proposed agreement on the table.
The organization is bringing up the tempo on negotiations saying it is time to get a deal done.
This move seemed to put pressure on the players literally hours before Janine Beckie, Christine Sinclair, Quinn, and Sophie Schmidt are scheduled to testify before the Heritage Committee in Parliament.
The proposed deal would pay both the men and the women the same match fee and an equal split in prize money and apparently if agreed upon the deal would make the women the second highest-paid team in the world.
The governing body said the deal on the table demonstrates Canada Soccer’s commitment to its core principles and that if you represent Canada Soccer, regardless of gender you will be paid the same.
Earl Cochrane, the general secretary, said it is time to get a deal done. “We’ve been negotiating in good faith and want to get to a resolution with our national teams. In order to get there, we need both of our national teams to agree. Our women deserve to be paid equally and they deserve the financial certainty going into the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup (this summer in Australia and New Zealand),” he said.
A minor wrinkle Canada Soccer stated while equal pay is on the table the budgets for each team are different and the men’s side has “very different costs” than that of the women.
From 2012-2019 Canada Soccer spent $37,423,185 on the men’s team in staffing and program costs compared to $37,073,404 for the women.
In that eight-year period, the women went to the World Cup twice while also appearing at two Olympic games.
The fee per game for the plays would be $3500 with a chance to reach $5500 in bonuses depending on the opponent and each team would get 1.15 million for qualifying for a World Cup.
With the nine million the men earned at the World Cup Canada Soccer proposed 40% roughly 3.6 million would go into a combined prize pool with as much as 75% for the Women’s World Cup depending on how far it would and it would range from 1-4 million.
Both teams asked to equally share 80% of the money the men earned in Qatar.
Canada Soccer confirmed from that 2012-19, the men earned $2.92 million while the women earned $2.96 in the same time span.
If the deal is agreed upon it would mean $10.29 million in total player compensation from 2020 to 2030 also depending on on-field success for the men and $9.64 million for the women.
It also says if a deal is struck that Canada Soccer Business will amend its controversial agreement.
While Beckie, Sinclair, Schmidt, and Quinn are scheduled to appear today, both Nick Bontis (who resigned last week) and Cochrane are scheduled to face the Heritage Committee on March 20th.
Canada Soccer also agreed to treat the women the same as the men were treated last year for Qatar meaning business class flights, single occupancy hotel rooms, and a team chef at the World Cup.
They also stated that the deal was agreed upon the women would have one game at home before the World Cup as a send-off game before the team heads to Australia.
The women’s team formed the CSPA in 2016 and has been without a labor deal since it expired at the end of 2021 but has come to an agreement on compensation for 2022.
The men’s team formed the Men’s National Soccer Team Players Association is currently working on its first formal labor agreement.