MADRID, 27 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Liga F and the unions FUTPRO, Futbolistas ON and Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO.) staged this Monday the signing of the second Collective Agreement of the First Division of Women’s Soccer, “a milestone towards professionalization” that “makes institutional peace visible” between entities, although they regretted the “certain bad negotiating faith” of the Association of Spanish Soccer Players (AFE) and the General Union of Workers (UGT), who did not sign the document.
The president of League F, Beatriz Álvarez; that of FUTPRO, Amanda Gutiérrez; that of Futbolistas ON, Juanjo Martínez; and the representative of CCOO, Maite Sánchez, signed the renewal of this agreement at the Madrid headquarters of the association, “a new milestone towards the professionalization of women’s football, which will begin in 2022”, according to the head of the association.
“I thank the unions for their good negotiating faith throughout these long months. It is true that there was a very difficult stage of complicated understanding, but in another stage it flowed in a different way to achieve the stability we needed to advance rights on this path “he said.
The president of League F celebrated the presence of the cabinet director of the president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), Juan Luis Soto, and apologized to the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, who did not attend due to her agenda. “He also intervened at a difficult moment,” he confessed, before also highlighting that the vice president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Sergio Merchán, attended.
For Álvarez, the presence of the different institutions and entities makes it possible to “make peace visible.” “This type of act makes visible that union that will make us grow much faster and achieve our objectives as soon as possible,” he expressed, before evaluating a new agreement that he admitted “can be improved.”
“With this signing of the second agreement, with many improvements, we are guaranteeing the future. We can boast of being the head of the athletes in Spain. One hundred percent of the F League can be professionals and dedicate themselves exclusively to football. You have to see this I walk with ambition, but also with the tranquility of taking the necessary steps,” he warned.
AMANDA GUTIÉRREZ: “WE HAD TO SIGN IT FOR THE GOOD OF EVERYONE”
And in this process, he did not forget the clubs, whom he thanked for the “facilities at the negotiation table”, despite the “many differences” in teams. “I have had everyone’s will to reach agreements, economically and, above all, in the social part. This part, as a woman, is what is really important and priority. There were never problems reaching an agreement with the clubs, there were easy dialogue and reaching out to those who have fewer resources,” he revealed.
For her part, from FUTPRO, Amanda Gutiérrez acknowledged “a lot of friction” at the beginning of the negotiations, until they began to reach out “hands.” “Bea told me that we had to sign the agreement for the good of all. It will not be the perfect agreement, but it does improve the previous one. We are working to build, and the best way is to do it together,” he applauded.
And this new agreement improves aspects related to harassment, is aligned with the new LGTBI regulations and aims to take care of the soccer player in everything related to motherhood. “We have tightened the sexual harassment protocol, the soccer players will be more protected, they had many problems to report. We have to be on top of this,” he commented.
“In terms of maternity, we have established improvements such as nurseries during training and matches until the baby is three years old, breastfeeding rooms will be enabled, a working group will be established focused on studying each case. The F League is committed to offer qualified personnel to physically and mentally treat the soccer player during and after pregnancy,” he listed some improvements.
In addition to the economic section, including, in addition to the minimum wage, “a bonus for seniority, compensation”, the increase in “the amount in case of death or disability, mixed commissions and the compensation mechanism for training, in which establish a series of limitations to avoid abuse of rights”, for which 50% must be allocated to the quarry.
“It is a brilliant agreement and it could be applied to men. We have study and entrepreneurship scholarships for an amount of 70,000 euros per season, the unions will be part of the commission. Two days of rest, travel has become tougher (more than 3 hours by AVE or plane), there are initiatives to segment a commitment to be able to be in the daily life of the footballers. Many things have to be improved at the level of mental health, there are data that are quite scary, we have to work on it seriously,” he added. Gutierrez.
Futbolistas ON described this signing as a “historic appointment.” “You footballers now have better rights, with an economic level to be able to make a living from football. I am very proud to be a signatory, for the second time, of the collective agreement. With Beatriz there was a turning point in which we understood that it was very necessary to sign a new agreement. It will not be the best, but every day we will try to improve it,” said Juanjo Martínez.
While CC.OO highlighted that this is an agreement “with new articles only for them.” “But this doesn’t end here, we have to continue working forward. We have always tried to be honest and work together, it is the players who will always decide, and that’s how it was. They decided that this was a step forward, we had to have stability, to apply everything agreed upon,” said Maite Sánchez.
REFUSAL OF AFE AND UGT AND THE INCREASE IN THE MINIMUM WAGE, “THE MOST URGENT”
When asked by the media, the unions insisted that, in future agreements, “the most urgent thing” is to raise the minimum wage, which is now 22,500 euros. “It even led us to strike. But the players reflected, not everything is salary. But it is one of the pending issues,” commented Gutiérrez, who added that the players “want more”, although “it should be linked to the professionalization of the clubs”.
The CC.OO representative revealed that the unions were starting from a figure close to 30,000 euros as the minimum wage for this season or 32,500 for the next. “They were very hard days, with a lot of tension. And not playing a game, a strike, is very important for them. With that amount we could have made a tight agreement. But it depends a lot on the brands and the TV, they all have us to help,” said Sánchez.
Furthermore, Beatriz Álvarez spoke “openly” about the refusal of AFE and UGT to sign this second collective agreement, as they understood that it could be improved and “did not represent progress.” “In June 2024, when we reviewed all the text, the five unions gave us the OK, the text was closed. They told us that 97% of footballers agreed, and that was when AFE (and UGT) took a step back and he sent the message that there was still a lot to improve,” he recalled.
“I see a certain bad negotiating faith, it does not seem coherent to me. There is a background that has to do with other issues, not with the agreement. It is quite sad, a shame, that when we talk about this institutional peace, we are not all going to be rowing in the same direction. Let everyone be consistent with their actions,” he said.