ASN: MLS Gamers Stay United As CBA Negotiations Stall

Main League Soccer and the MLS Gamers Union stay far aside on a number of key points of their ongoing labor negotiations—to this point aside, in truth, that the season’s begin might be in jeopardy.

BY

Brooke Tunstall

Posted
January 22, 2015
5:22 PM

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FORTY-THREE DAYS.

That’s how lengthy it’s till the beginning of Main League Soccer’s twentieth season, with the Los Angeles Galaxy scheduled to host the Chicago Fireplace on March 6.

But when the league and its gamers don’t attain an accord on a brand new collective bargaining settlement, the beginning of the season is in jeopardy. The present CBA expires on the finish of this month and and not using a new one in place, it’s uncertain the season begins as deliberate.

“I can’t imagine a situation where we would start the season without a CBA,” MLS gamers affiliation head Bob Foose advised American Soccer Now this morning.

Till the present CBA expires subsequent week, there will likely be no work-stoppage as there could be neither a lockout nor a strike beneath its phrases. Nonetheless MLS deputy commissioner Mark Abbott mentioned it’s too early to fret the season gained’t begin on time.

“It is premature at this stage of the discussions to speculate about the possibility of a work stoppage,” Abbott mentioned in an announcement launched by MLS. “Though there are a selection of points which nonetheless should be resolved, that’s true of each CBA negotiation, and we’re dedicated to continued negotiations.”

Neither aspect is providing up a lot in the best way of particulars so tea leaves are laborious to learn. But when the most recent negotiations are an indication, issues aren’t going effectively. Garber and several other different league officers met with Foose this week on the workplace of the union’s basic counsel in Washington, D.C. Two days of periods have been scheduled however the group dispersed after just one due to a scarcity of progress.

“We remain very far apart on several key issues,” Foose mentioned. “And while I remain confident, it’s difficult to see a path to resolution right now.”

Foose mentioned no new date has been set for the subsequent spherical of negotiations. Foose additionally mentioned that no third-party mediators had been mentioned as of but, one thing that helped carry a decision to the final CBA negotiations in 2010.
The 2 greatest points, as they’ve been in earlier CBA talks, stay compensation and free company.

“Free company is definitely an enormously necessary subject,” Foose mentioned. “But player compensation is also extremely important and the mass of inequality in pay. It’s as much how the money is spent as it is how much is spent.”

Final yr’s wage cap was $3.1 million. However the league’s designated gamers—gamers for whom most of their wage is exempt from the cap—usually exceed that each one by themselves. As an example, per the MLS Gamers Union union, the Seattle Sounders’ Clint Dempsey earned $6.69 million final yr and Michael Bradley of Toronto FC pulled down $6.5 million.

In the meantime, Dempsey’s teammate Andy Rose, a part-time starter in his third yr as a professional on one of many prime groups within the league, made $48,825—the identical wage earned by Toronto’s Mark Bloom, who began 26 video games at proper again final yr. (Bloom has signed a brand new deal this offseason and can presumably be higher compensated going ahead.)

Dempsey makes $128,653 per week. Rose earns $938 each seven days.

That hole is one thing the gamers are in search of to shut.

“From our perspective, if we’re going to take the league forward and grow it to where we want it to go, we can’t simply just grow salaries at the top of the roster,” Foose mentioned. “It’s not effective, not a path to improving the quality of play in league. Salaries have to be addressed at all points, entry level, mid-level, and the top.”

Regardless of his lofty wage, Bradley has taken an lively function within the union and is advocating for elevated salaries on the decrease finish. This week he advised ESPN that free company—which MLS gamers who’re out of contract don’t have—was a difficulty price placing for.

“Ought to we get to a degree earlier than the season the place issues and negotiations aren’t the place they need to be, we’re able to strike, and we’re united as a gaggle to make actual progress by way of the best way gamers get handled on this league,” he said. “We’re in no way being greedy. We want what’s best for the league, we want to help this league grow and continue to push forward in every possible way. But it is time for some changes in the way that things are done and I think that in the end we’ll find a good way to get all that done.”

Bradley’s feedback echo these made by World Cup teammate Omar Gonzalez. The Los Angeles Galaxy defender, one other designated participant, earned $1.25 million final yr—and advised ESPN that the gamers “are prepared to go on strike.”

Whereas such verbal sabre rattling is a part of the tete-a-tete of contract negotiations, Foose mentioned they’re additionally indicative of the league’s unity, particularly as a result of the feedback are coming from higher-paid established stars who’re advocating for extra money and rights for lower-paid gamers.

“There’s no doubt about it, all our players are very locked in. They’re very well informed and very committed to change. They have made it crystal clear to the league that they can’t continue to play in the current system,” Foose mentioned. “The guys at top end of the pay scale understand what’s important to the guys at bottom and the other way around, too. We have a very good cross section (of players) on our leadership committee, including several guys who were rookies last year.”

Bradley is in his second season in MLS after eight-and-a-half years in Europe, however he has already turn into one of many leaders throughout the gamers union. He fills a void left by the retirement of league icon Landon Donovan and to a lesser diploma former Chicago stalwart Logan Pause, each of whom have been lively members of the union’s government committee.

“Michael is a tremendous leader and very passionate,” mentioned Foose. “It’s always difficult to lose guys like Landon and Logan, who have been integral to what we’ve done and they’re both fantastic guys. But Michael, and a lot of guys like him, have stepped in to that role.”

Final week in Philadelphia at a ceremony asserting that the league’s MVP trophy could be named in his honor, Donovan advised reporters he was “very, very proud” of his work in serving to forge the primary two CBAs, together with the one which expires subsequent week.

“Landon was very central to us as a union and was part of our executive board for 10 years,” Foose mentioned. “He spent as a lot time as any participant within the historical past of this league on the union, and that speaks volumes to his character. It definitely was not one thing he wanted to be doing and for some time he was one in every of few who didn’t want (what the union advocated for many of its members).

“I can’t say sufficient optimistic issues about Landon and what he meant to us.”

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter.