Reporter Jia Yanfeng reported that "XX players, you come. Now inform you that this is the latest salary contract, you sign it and stay, don't sign it and leave. ”
"XX players, according to the latest requirements of the Chinese Football Association, the new season must all be reduced, and your salary standard will be implemented in accordance with the XX standard."
"XX players, according to the assessment of the coaching staff, you do not meet the requirements of the club, this is the termination agreement, after signing and going to receive an extra month's salary you can leave."
"XX players, originally the club did not have a salary reduction plan, but the boss saw that the Guangzhou team fell so fiercely, obviously our team's current salary standard is too high, so we also have to cut salaries, and the specific reduction is concentrated in the back."
These are the expressions that reporters have collected from last year to the present, related to the team's salary cuts. The management of the last team was the most polite, but also illegal. The Standard Contract Template of the Chinese Football Association states that the Modification and Termination of the Contract Must Be a Joint Embodiment of the Intentions of both Parties to the Contract Formation.
In fact, this is not the first salary cut storm in Chinese football. In the case of a sluggish market environment, players who have lost their dominant position can only swallow their anger and let others slaughter. The club is not a winner, in fact, every time they slash a contract with a knife, they also cut off the assets they have piled up in the past few years.
The second basic principle of the overall requirements of the "Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football" reads: "Focusing on the long term and consolidating the foundation is combined." Strengthen the top-level design and pay attention to the implementation of the strategy. Consolidate the demographic foundation, facility foundation, management foundation, and cultural foundation of football development, and continue to work hard for a long time. ”
So is all this done above in the long run? Is it laying the foundation of the football population, the foundation of culture?
◆ Under what circumstances can the club and the player re-sign the work contract?
What are the circumstances in which enterprises and employees need to re-sign employment contracts? According to the Provisions of the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China, the employee contract may be re-signed under the following circumstances: 1. Article 33 The employer's change of name, legal representative, main responsible person or investor shall not affect the performance of the labor contract (Henan Songshan Longmen once re-signed the contract with the player under this provision); 2. Article 34 The original labor contract shall continue to be valid in the event of a merger or division of the employer. The labor contract shall continue to be performed by the employer that inherits its rights and obligations (Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Club once re-signed the contract with the player according to this provision); 3. Article 35 The employer and the employee may, through consultation, change the content of the labor contract, and the modification of the labor contract shall be in writing.
In the 2021 season, some clubs re-signed contracts with players twice, one of which was to comply with the requirements of the Chinese Football Association and collectively "change" the unified version. However, the Chinese Football Association stressed that it is not forcing clubs to change the content of the contract itself, let alone requiring clubs to impose salary cuts. In fact, all players have signed a new version of the contract uniformly in accordance with the regulations, which is equivalent to the repeal of the original contract in disguise, but according to the provisions of the Labor Law, if a contract is abolished, the contract should first be illegal or have other reasons that must be terminated - whether the new version of the contract in 2021 uniformly resigned falls into this category is debatable.
◆ In 2020, FIFA launched a salary reduction initiative, and the Chinese Football Association also agreed. From 2021 to 2022, the maximum salary amount of Chinese players will be adjusted continuously, and some clubs will also use this as an excuse to threaten and order players to accept salary cuts unconditionally. What is the attitude of the Chinese Football Association and the Arbitration Commission towards this phenomenon?
It shouldn't be such logic. FIFA and the Chinese Football Association only consider the financial pressure of clubs during the epidemic prevention and control period, so they have given some suggestions, and the Chinese Football Association has also given some specific salary reduction rules, which have both procedural and substantive requirements in the specific implementation of salary reduction rules. The rules of the Chinese Football Association have been issued to the whole society as a public document, which is easily searchable on the Internet. If it is strictly implemented in accordance with the rules and sufficient supporting materials are submitted, the Chinese Football Association supports the club to carry out appropriate salary reductions within the scope of the rules, but if there is no consultation, the forced salary reduction or even the forced termination of the contract is firmly opposed by the Chinese Football Association.
In the past two seasons, the litigation cases submitted to the Arbitration Commission of the Chinese Football Association have accounted for a considerable part of the lawsuits caused by improper termination. In the actual cases handled, the defense of unilateral salary reductions by the vast majority of clubs on the grounds of the epidemic has not been supported, and clubs generally have not made salary cuts in a fair, open and impartial manner in accordance with the guidance of the Chinese Football Association and FIFA. The principle of the Chinese Football Association and the Arbitration Commission is to support the stability of the contract to the greatest extent, and it will be fully considered in the adjudication process, and the breaching party will not benefit from it. Resolutely put an end to acts that harm the interests of players in the name of the epidemic.
◆ In fact, the essence of salary cuts is because the club wants to reduce the burden, because in the past few years, the biggest burden in the club's operation is the salary of the players, some even as high as 70% of the club's annual budget, which can be supported by the economic situation, but the economic downturn is overwhelmed. Can wage cuts be recognized and understood in this context?
In essence, rejecting unrealistically high salaries and returning to rational management is an act worthy of affirmation. Pay cuts are okay, but desperate for the sake of pay cuts should be stopped. Let us not forget that in the third item of the "Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football" (hereinafter referred to as the "Football Reform Plan") promulgated by the State Council, "Reform and Improvement of the Construction and Operation Mode of Professional Clubs", sub-item (10) of the general section: "Promote the healthy and stable development of clubs." Strict access, standardized management of professional clubs, give full play to their main position and important role in the league. Clubs should pay attention to their own construction, improve rules and regulations, strengthen self-discipline management, abide by industry rules, actively assume social responsibility, and accept social supervision. What does such a statement tell us? Tell us that the club should develop healthily and steadily, and the club's salary adjustment model and means are obviously contrary to the requirements of healthy and stable development, and healthy development is bound to be law-abiding and self-disciplined.
Professional football as the most concerned sports in Chinese society, any move will be the entire Chinese society and even the international community attention, evaluation, if the use of the beginning of the article those behaviors to reduce wages, thus causing litigation or a bigger storm, can only make the entire industry more spurned by society. Arthur Junmin as an active international using this model to ask for salaries is already very indicative of the problems in our club operations, and if other negative news breaks out again in terms of rules and regulations and non-compliance with industry rules, then the negative impact may be irreparable in the next few years. The exploration of salary management required in the "Foot Reform Plan" to effectively prevent problems such as inflated player prices and disorderly competition is not to unilaterally force a salary cut regardless of the legal theory, so back to the answer to the question, the original intention of a reasonable salary cut can be understood at this stage, but it cannot be recognized and understood by imposing it by unreasonable means.
◆ After some clubs have drastically cut salaries, the personal prospects of the core players in the team have suddenly become the focus of everyone's attention, because clubs are doing their best to "send" these high-paying players away. Some clubs directly inform players that as long as they give up the original high-paying contract, they can give players free rein. Whether it is a disguised salary reduction or a disguised termination of the contract, is there any industry law to pay attention to?
The team's high-paid players are persuaded to leave or forced to give up their original salaries in some form, the underlying logic is that the club wants to terminate the original labor contract of the two parties in advance, and if the players themselves have the same will, then it can become "the legal effect of the parties terminating the labor contract in advance", and there is no substantive and procedural restrictions on the negotiation of the termination of the labor contract, as long as the two parties agree, the content, form, and procedure do not violate the legal prohibition and mandatory provisions.
Article 48 of the Labor Contract Law also clearly states that "the legal consequences of unlawful termination or termination of a labor contract" are: If the employer terminates or terminates the labor contract in violation of the provisions of this Law, and the employee requests to continue to perform the labor contract, the employer shall continue to perform; if the employee does not request to continue to perform the labor contract or the labor contract can no longer be performed, the employer shall pay compensation in accordance with article 87 of this Law. That is to say, if the player does not agree to the early termination of the labor contract, does not agree to the forced salary reduction or other requirements made by the club, he has the right to refuse the unilateral salary reduction or termination of the work contract proposed by the club, and insists on continuing to perform the contract. At the same time, the Arbitration Commission of the Chinese Football Association has clear restrictions on the unilateral termination of the work contract by the club, as long as it cannot be proved that the player can exercise the unilateral termination condition, the application for termination will be rejected by the Arbitration Commission of the Chinese Football Association.
◆ There are some unknown reserve team players who have been forced to unilaterally terminate and dismiss since last year, what is the impact of this behavior on the long-term development of Chinese football?
Any simple and rude act of unilaterally terminating the contract with the player without any consultation is actually a serious malicious breach of contract, which must be prohibited, and if this behavior is allowed to spread unchecked, the blow to Chinese youth training is immeasurable. Because any parent can default at will under the premise of learning that Chinese professional clubs can go through any restrictions and under the premise of changes in the external economic environment, then there will be fewer and fewer young reserve talents who dare to enter the professional football field in the future.
Therefore, the relevant parties can not only focus on the first team and key players to solve the salary arrears, there are many unknown but also dedicated to becoming professional players, but also need attention and support. In addition to being a competitive sport itself, football also carries the functions of transmitting justice, inspiring people and educating people. If many practices of professional football cannot be recognized by society and supported by parents, how can we talk about expanding the football population and promoting school football?
◆ The construction of the legal system in the field of Chinese football has a long way to go, but what must be changed immediately?
Establish an industry legal aid institution as soon as possible to lay a good foundation for the industry's law popularization, law compliance, and law enforcement.
The legal aid system is a legal guarantee system in which the state reduces or waives fees and provides legal assistance to the weak in society who are difficult to protect their rights through legal remedies in the general sense due to economic difficulties or other factors at all links and levels of the judicial system. As a state act of achieving social justice and judicial justice and guaranteeing the basic rights of citizens, it occupies a very important position in the national judicial system.
At present, many players in the football circle, especially ordinary players, do not know who to turn to when they encounter contract disputes. Another reality is that the number of lawyers who understand the law in football is relatively small and expensive, and not all players can afford it. The national legal aid system has a unified charging standard of 3850 yuan, which is certainly a blessing for some grassroots coaches, parents of youth players and ordinary players in the lower leagues of professional leagues. Chinese football has more legal circles involved in improving the legal system construction of the football circle, which is an indispensable link.