The president of the United States Football Federation, Cindy Parlow Cone, sent an open letter on Friday asking the unions of the women’s and men’s national teams to agree to match the FIFA World Cup prize.
He called for the men’s national team to allow the USSF to reassign a portion of FIFA World Cup payments to the federation to the women’s team. Parlow Cone said the USSF will offer the two unions the same contract.
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The money from the World Cup award has been one of many points between the USSF and the players, as the federation insists that as FIFA controls the award, it is out of its control to split it equally.
USWNT players argue that there are a large number of matches, such as qualifying for the World Cup, for which FIFA does not control the money.
Alex Morgan-led players denounced the USSF in March 2019. U.S. football president Cindy Parlow Cone said Friday that the U.S. women’s team and the men’s team would come together to negotiate “a solution that match the World Cup awards between the USMNT and the USWNT. “
“As a former player, I want to make it clear once again that I, along with all of American football, am 100% committed to the equal pay of the players of our national team. We remain firm in our commitment to ensuring the equal pay of our nationals. “Parlow Cone said in the letter. “We are focused on demonstrating this commitment through action. As a federation, we would prefer to negotiate a single collective bargaining agreement with the men’s and women’s teams, but as neither team has agreed to take this approach, we move forward separately. with each Players Association.
“The massive discrepancy in the FIFA World Cup awards is by far the most difficult issue we continue to face in our parallel negotiations with the men’s and women’s national teams. Although FIFA has made some investments shocking in the women’s game, the discrepancy in prizes remains raw.
“FIFA only controls these funds and American football is legally obliged to distribute them based on our current collective bargaining agreements with the men’s and women’s teams.
“Within this challenge, we see an opportunity to create change. To seize this opportunity, we need our men’s and women’s national teams to come together and rethink how we have done things in the past. To this end, we have invited the players and the two player associations to join the United States of Football to negotiate together a solution that would equalize the World Cup awards between the USMNT and the USWNT. “
Both the USWNT Players Association and the players who have sued the USSF rejected several of the claims made in the last letter.
“It’s just false that in past negotiations the Federation offered the women’s team the ‘exactly equal contract.’ in a statement the executive director of the USWNT Players Association Becca Roux.
“We are interested in negotiating in good faith to reach a fair deal for our players and we will not let them use our fight for equality to create a divide between women and men. We remain committed to working with all parties to reach an agreement. it just lifts all the players. “
A spokesman for the players involved in the case said actions with more words were needed.
“The USSF has finally recognized that they pay less to women than to men,” said Molly Levinson, a spokeswoman for USWNT players.
“The USSF must correct this ongoing disparity by reaching a collective bargaining agreement on equal pay and resolving the ongoing lawsuit. Letters to fans are not a substitute. It’s time to back up many words with some actions “.
The USMNT has supported the USWNT’s demand for equal pay and filed a friend’s letter in July signed by representatives of the male players’ union.
They supported the USWNT’s appeal after a judge dismissed their lawsuit.
They said the WSF “has spent more than three decades treating women as a later thought, discriminating against them through lower wages and working conditions and forcing women to fight for equal pay and fair treatment they deserve.”
This pattern, the brief continued, “sends a corrosive public message to women and girls who, even at the highest level, no matter how hard they work or how successful they are, their employers can and will be diminished and undervalued. disappointing as illegal “.
The women’s team union agreed to an agreement with different benefits, such as health care, the payment of players in the National Women’s Football League and the leave and salary for maternity and pregnancy. The women’s agreement also includes compensation for injuries, 401 (k) plans and compensation.
In the 2019 lawsuit, the women claimed more than $ 64 million in damages plus $ 3 million in interest under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner in Los Angeles dismissed the salary claim in May 2020, ruling that women rejected a pay-per-game structure similar to the male agreement and accepted wages and benefits. base larger than men.
It allowed them to judge their allegation of discriminatory working conditions. The women asked the 9th Circuit to overturn the court’s judgment of first instance and put their wage demand back on track.
A three-judge court is likely to hear oral arguments later this year or early 2022.
FIFA awarded $ 400 million in prizes to the 32 teams in the 2018 Men’s World Cup, including $ 38 million to the French champion.
She awarded $ 30 million to the 24 teams in the 2019 Women’s World Cup, including $ 4 million in the United States after the Americans won their second consecutive title.
FIFA has increased the total to $ 440 million for the 2022 Men’s World Cup and its president, Gianni Infantino, has proposed to FIFA to double the women’s prizes to 60 million for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, in which FIFA has increased the teams to 32.
Most federations issue their payments to players for the World Cups in FIFA amounts.
The USSF is negotiating with the women’s union a collective agreement to replace the one that expires on December 31.
The information from The Associated Press was used in this report.