A players’ strike threatens the start of the F League season
The 2023/24 season of the F League will start next Friday, September 8… if progress is made in the negotiation of the renewal of the Collective Agreement, stalled since the meetings between employers and unions began on January 25, 2022. Without progress in this regard since the last meeting held between both parties in July and with the next appointment on Monday, September 4, the social bank has submitted this Friday to SIMA and the Ministry of Labor the request for a strike that would be carried out in both first days of competition if an agreement is not reached.
The five unions that make up the negotiating table (FUTPRO, AFE, Futbolistas ON, CCOO and UGT) already submitted the players to a vote last May when the meetings between the two parties began to stagnate. At that time there was talk of a renewal for three seasons at a rate of 20,000, 25,000 and 30,000 euros per year on the union side; and 16,500, 17,500 and 19,000 euros for the employer, an offer that he withdrew at the last meeting held in July, leaving the 16,000 euros that prevail today.
Conciliation, training rights and protocols against sexual harassment
Although salary is the main battlehorse between employers and unions, and the first move in a game that has much further to go, the negotiation must advance on other issues eager for improvement such as conciliation and training rights. The World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand this summer – and won by Spain -, where the national team’s players enjoyed an agreement to be accompanied by their families, highlighted the importance of advancing in this area. In the same way, the piquito of Luis Rubiales, president of the RFEF, to Jenni Hermoso, as well as the ‘Alhama case’that took place last year, highlights the importance of reinforcing the protocol against sexual harassment and reinforcing actions against possible abuses of power.
Given the forecast that the umpteenth meeting between the two parties will have an unsatisfactory resolution -something more than likely, looking at the history of the meetings of the last 18 months-, the social bank wanted to go ahead and activate the roadmap stipulated months ago. For this reason, through FUTPRO, the majority union, which has Amanda Gutiérrez as its president and visible head, has filed a petition for mediation with the SIMA (Interconfederal Mediation and Arbitration Service) and with the Ministry of Labour, subsequently notifying the the employer. The idea is that it arrives in time to be able to start the strike on September 8, coinciding with the start of the new season of the F League. Dates and Times of Matchday 1 of the F League
09/08 [21:00] Seville-UDG Tenerife
09/09 [12:00] Athletic Club-Granada
09/09 [19:00] Eibar-Madrid CFF
09/09 [21:00] Real Madrid-Betis
10/09 [12:00] Levante Las Planas-Sporting de Huelva
09/10 [19:00] Villarreal-Atletico Madrid
09/10 [21:00] Barcelona-Valencia
** Postponed the Real Sociedad-LevanteThe news came as a surprise to the F League headquarters, where they were preparing the start of the next season. The entity assures that they are aware of the importance of reaching an agreement on the renewal of the Agreement and in terms of minimum salaries, although they appeal to the sustainability of the clubs, especially the independent ones. They talk about how their budgets have been undermined after the latest resolutions issued by the CSD, which calls for allocating 20% of commercial income to the RFEF, or the justice system, which approved the increase in arbitration receipt fees and sanctions. Furthermore, with the ‘Finetwork case’ still in the hands of the lawyers and in search of a new sponsor to name the competition, the F League is still looking for income that will make the competition grow.
It is worth remembering that the F League already started a week late last season due to a stoppage, this time refereeing, which led to a conflict in which the CSD had to mediate and which ended up being resolved with the professionalization of the refereeing team. That setback meant not only a restructuring of the calendar (the postponed date on the November long weekend had to be recovered) but also a bad step with DAZN, the television operator that bought the audiovisual rights of the F League until 2028 for 35 million euros. And that had a blank premiere.