MADRID, 8 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of League F, Beatriz Álvarez, acknowledged that they are “a little frustrated” for not having been able to reach an agreement with the social bank regarding the minimum wage and prevent a strike by soccer players in the first two days who “did not gives a good image”, warning that the employers are the ones that have made the greatest approaches and asking that they stop doing “demagoguery” with their income.
“The truth is that we are a little frustrated by this situation, by not having been able to unblock these negotiations and it has been many hours, and a lot of effort on everyone’s part,” said Beatriz Álvarez in statements to Europa Press.
The leader stressed that they made “different offers” and that the objective was “to try to propose something progressive” in order, “within sustainability”, to be able to reach “a curve over more years and with better conditions depending on the volume of income” that achieve the championship “both audiovisual and commercial.”
The employers’ association proposed reaching the minimum wage of 25,000 euros in this way, but regretted that this was rejected “without any counterproposal.” “It was something that surprised us on the first day of meetings there because in the end within a negotiation we all give in, that is evident,” she warned.
The social bank proposed as a “possible solution to unblock only the context of the strike, reaching an economic agreement” and then “continuing to negotiate everything within the context of the Collective Agreement.” “In that context we held a meeting with the clubs and told them that it was time to put all the effort we could put into it,” he said, recalling that the UDG, Levante Las Planas, Madrid CFF and Sporting Huelva do not have “the possibility of having the reinforcement” of those who are not independent.
“OUR APPROACH HAS BEEN GREATER, THE SOCIAL BANK IS INFLEXIBLE”
For this reason, they proposed, from the 18,000 euro bracket that they initially started from for this season, “to make a slightly larger increase” to unblock a situation that they see as “a shot in the foot” because it is “detrimental to income, of the competition and possible sponsors who could see this situation. “I think it doesn’t give a good image and that will hurt both the clubs and the players,” he warned.
Álvarez pointed out that this approach was “insufficient” for the unions, as was adding “variables” as income grew to allocate a percentage to the footballers’ salary mass. “We are in a hopeful moment and they did not think it was enough, not even the social issues that we put on the maternity table, conciliation aid for those who are mothers, training for when they finish their time as soccer players or awards for seniority to reinforce a little bit also that wage bill. But they were not even valued, they were put at 23,000, who stood there and went on strike,” he explained.
The president of League F believes that the approach by the employers has been “greater” in relation to the salary bill and reiterated that they must take care of “the sustainability of the competition.” “They are inflexible and, honestly, right now I don’t know,” she added about the possibility that an agreement could be reached in negotiations that will resume on Tuesday at SIMA.
However, according to ‘Relevo’, the strike call may not have been registered in time, something that has shocked Álvarez “quite a bit, especially because it is generating a lot of instability for this Friday’s game.” It must be remembered that UDG Granadilla has traveled to face Sevilla since in “an act of responsibility they have to present themselves regardless of whether the players later decide or not.” “We don’t know at this time what is going to happen, I imagine that the players and the unions will be making legal consultations and they will be the ones who decide,” he warned.
In this sense, he made it clear that it is not the League’s “decision” that the UDG, as its president warned, can appear with the minimum number of players. “It is a decision of the players themselves. The right to strike is a right, indeed, but the right not to strike is also a right,” he remarked.
“LET’S STOP DEMAGOGIES, WOMEN’S FOOTBALL IS DEFICIENT”
Furthermore, Álvarez knows that “there are many soccer players who are comfortable with 20,000 minimum salary.” “They know where we come from and the context we are in,” she stressed. “And let’s stop demagoguery, putting on the table the income figures that League F is having, which are for a five-year projection, and using them as if that were the money to be distributed for the year and for the clubs or that The only expense that the clubs could have is the players’ salary bill,” he asserted.
The leader appealed to a “forceful” report from the CSD that indicates that this league “has a deficit of 20 million euros.” “Professional women’s football is deficient and we are aware, the clubs and the players too. We have to see the entire context, the ecosystem of growth that we are leading and really go step by step hand in hand and not generate this climate of instability with a boom in women’s football,” he explained.
In any case, he does not want to use this argument “so as not to raise the salary.” “We are all aware that it is a question of will and ability, especially for the most modest who are also part of the competition, who are essential when no one believed in women’s football and they have every right to participate,” he highlighted. .
“What there is no right to is for a union to tell you that if you can’t pay it then you shouldn’t be in this competition. We all have to be consistent with the growth of women’s football with both the clubs and the players and start to make responsible decisions,” he continued.
Beatriz Álvarez recalls that a club independently “really what it earns is what it can spend”, and that if it is not “sustainable” it could stop “paying salaries in January”, which she would see as “an act of irresponsibility for everyone” , since the clubs are also “required” to “improve their structures and infrastructure in order to improve the product.”
For Álvarez, in Europe “there are very different situations”, but he does see it as “quite significant” that in the last World Cup, 22 players from the national team and two from England played in League F last season. “That is to say, wage bills in Spain have risen significantly,” he pointed out.
ASKS TO DO “A SENSE EXERCISE”
The former player stated that the average salary in Spain “is much higher” than the minimum salary they are setting, which is above all so that clubs without much economic muscle “can take advantage of or even pay those youth players and give the opportunity the younger girls that they can go up to the first team and not limit yourself to attracting a foreign player for a higher amount.
Beatriz Álvarez also does not forget that in the negotiation “there has been a permanent stagnation due to a continuous boycott by the RFEF of the League”, a situation that the unions said was not their “problem.” “Now it is everyone’s problem, that is the real problem,” he warned, regretting that all the “barriers” they have encountered, such as the increase in referees’ salaries or having to give up 20 percent, of their commercial income to the RFEF and that they never found union support. “I think we have to do a sensible exercise and start thinking that the situation is much broader and that it doesn’t just translate into what one deserves to charge a soccer player,” she concluded.