Historic top-flight women footballers strike is over for now
This past weekend Spain's top-flight women footballers, almost 200 players from 16 clubs, went ahead with a strike planned in October after almost one year of failed negotiations.
Woman playing soccer on field. / Photo: Pexels – Reference image
The Woman Post | Luisa Fernanda Báez Toro
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According to Give me Sport, the player`s union said in a statement that "right now female footballers are the only workers in their companies that don't have a collective agreement that protects them like their colleagues, a situation that in the 21st century is incomprehensible."
The Spanish players’ union, the AFE released a video featuring some of the most important female players that explained what they were asking for.
Minimum working conditions and an agreement for justice and equality; that was basically it. An agreement that collects claims in aspects such as harassment, maternity assistance, holidays and health coverage.
“We are getting better, and with our successes, we are showing that we are footballers too, we are professionals”, said the video.
Now, the AFE announced that the strike has been temporarily suspended since they are getting closer to a collective deal with the government over pay and conditions, as read on CNA.
“After the success of the strike, an agreement has been reached to work on the proposal,” said the AFE.
According to The Telegraph, the main deal was about salary: players were asking for minimum wages of €16,000 for full-time contracts and an increment in part-time contracts to €12,000 at least. The clubs argued that €8,000 should be the limit on that request because some small clubs don`t have the money to do it.
Also read: How much do women earn in different sports?
News Click points out that even though these wages higher are higher than Spain’s minimum wage of approximately €12,600 a year for 2019, according to the country's office of national statistics, they are significantly lower to the average wage of Spanish workers, which is €23,000.
Negotiations have been reopened and will continue until 20th December, so the matches scheduled for this coming weekend are going to take place.
"The strike has achieved its objective, which was to bring to light the problem our colleagues face", said the statement.
As read on CNA, what made them suspend the strike was an offer from the ministry for employment which guaranteed players a minimum salary of 16,000 euros per year and full-time contracts, one of the main issues addressed by the AFE.
"AFE wishes to state that the majority of the players think the offer made by the ministry for employment is positive and our association has told them we are ready to accept it", they noted.
