According to the "New York Times" reported on the 22nd, a 6-year-long "history of equal pay struggle" between the U.S. men's and women's soccer team finally ended in reconciliation today. The U.S. women's national soccer team, which has won four World Cups and Olympics, has been protesting the unfair treatment of female players. They demanded the same treatment as the men's soccer teams, such as flying charter flights, and redefined equal pay for equal work.
The U.S. Soccer Association and the U.S. Women's Soccer Team agreed to settle equal pay lawsuits for equal work. Source: The New York Times
The U.S. men's and women's soccer teams have reportedly held joint negotiating meetings with the U.S. Soccer Association, but in order for the co-workers's claims agreement to take effect, the joint negotiating meeting has proposed that the U.S. men's soccer team must agree to share or waive millions of dollars funded by FIFA.
On the 22nd, the U.S. women's soccer team reached a co-worker claim agreement with the U.S. Football Association on the same day, and according to the terms of the agreement, all players can receive a total of 24 million US dollars (about 150 million yuan) in compensation. The New York Times noted that the $24 million in compensation was mainly to pay the wages previously owed to the women's soccer team.
More notably, in the next collective bargaining agreement, the U.S. Soccer Federation promised that the U.S. men's and women's soccer teams would be paid equally for equal work in all competitions, including the World Cup. If the joint negotiating meeting allows the agreement to pass smoothly, the decision will bring millions of dollars to a new generation of U.S. women's soccer players.
The U.S. women's soccer team has won four World Cups in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019. Source: The New York Times
U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone said: "It's certainly not an easy process to do this, but most importantly, we're moving in that direction together. ”
In response, the U.S. Women's Soccer Players Association publicly congratulated the players, adding that "historic success has been achieved in combating the U.S. Soccer Association's decades-long-standing discrimination," while also making it clear that it plans to make the U.S. Soccer Association and men's soccer teams publicly commit to supporting equal pay for equal work.
Cindy Parlow Cone, president of the Women's Soccer Players Association, who led the U.S. women's soccer team to two Olympic gold medals, hailed it as a "huge victory" and "a big step forward."
However, not everyone is optimistic about this, and Crystal Dunn, a World Cup veteran and vice president of the Players Association, has to object: "The time for a new collective bargaining meeting has been determined, and in order to make the co-workers' claims agreement follow through, we must keep fighting." ”
According to previous reports, the U.S. women's soccer team has been working hard for 6 years for equal pay for equal work, as early as March 31, 2016, five female soccer players in the United States began to complain about equal pay for equal work, accusing the U.S. soccer team of wage discrimination.
The U.S. Women's Soccer Team's "History of equal pay struggles." Source: The New York Times
According to U.S. women soccer players Morgan, Rapino, Lloyd, Becky Saulbrunn and Hope Solo, their bonuses, appearance fees and even meals during training camp are sometimes insufficient, claiming that they earn only 40% of the remuneration of U.S. men's national team players.
In 2019, the U.S. women's soccer team filed a lawsuit under the Federal Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and sought wage compensation, citing differences in World Cup prize money paid to the U.S. men's and women's soccer teams in 2014 and 2015.
Among them, in the 2014 World Cup, the U.S. men's soccer team entered the round of 16 and received a prize of US$5.375 million (about 33.93 million yuan), while the US women's soccer team only received 1.725 million US dollars (about 10.89 million yuan) after winning the World Cup in 2015.
The U.S. women's soccer team has won four World Cup titles since 1985, while the U.S. men's soccer team has not reached the World Cup semi-finals since 1930.