Canada women’s soccer players SLAM governing body for releasing details of proposed CBA

Members of the Canada women’s national soccer team said they felt disrespected after their governing body released details of their proposed collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on Thursday without notice.

The Olympic champions launched a protest over pay equity and budget cuts last month, saying Canada Soccer had cut training camp days, full camp windows and the number of players and staff invited to camps, among other topics. The parties agreed to a provisional agreement on financing last week.

Hours before the players were scheduled to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on Thursday, Canada Soccer provided details of proposed collective agreements that would see both men and women pay the same amount to play a game of 90 minutes and share equally in the prize of the competition.

The governing body added that the negotiations revolve around the pooling of FIFA World Cup prize money and will require cooperation between the men’s team, the women’s team and Canada Soccer.

“We have been negotiating in good faith and want to reach a resolution with our national teams,” Canada Soccer general secretary Earl Cochrane said in a statement.

Players will receive $3,500 per match, with bonuses taking winnings up to $5,500 regardless of whether it’s the men’s or women’s team if the proposal is accepted.

‘To get there, we need our national teams to agree. Our women deserve to be paid equally and deserve the financial certainty of participating in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.”

The governing body also said it had accepted or was addressing demands made by the women’s national team last month with less than 140 days to go until the World Cup.

These included providing a ‘comparable’ budget for the women’s team’s World Cup preparations compared to what the men received for their tournament last year and an agreement to share future budgets between the men’s and women’s teams.

Speaking to members of Canadian parliament on Thursday, national team member Janine Beckie said: “We felt quite disrespected by the way you went about your business this afternoon.”

“We believe that what was discussed in the good faith negotiation between our players’ association and (Canada Soccer) should have stayed between the players’ association and the Canadian soccer association.

‘And there were terms and numbers and pieces within your statement today that you haven’t even communicated to us. So that was a bit of a shock to us.

Two Canadian soccer fans hold a banner in support of the team at the SheBelieves Cup

The past few years have been promising for Canadian soccer, while the women left Tokyo with Olympic gold around their necks in 2021, last year their men’s counterparts competed in the World Cup final for the first time in 36 years.

But comments from the players on Thursday laid bare the painful break with their governing body, as Christine Sinclair said she and her compatriots were “forced to negotiate in the dark”.

“The success of the national teams is inspiring the entire country and the future should be brighter than ever,” Sinclair said.

“However, as the popularity, interest and growth of women’s football has spread around the world, our hardest battle has been with our own federation.”