Canadian women’s soccer team representatives to appear at Parliament to fight for pay equity
Members of the Canadian women’s soccer team take their fight for pay equity to Parliament today.
Captain Christine Sinclair, Janine Beckie, Sophie Schmidt and Quinn are scheduled to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage this afternoon. The four serve as the women’s team player representatives.
The Canadian women, like their male counterparts, are embroiled in a bitter labour dispute with Canada Soccer, the sport’s governing body.
The Olympic champion women want the same support and backing ahead of this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand as the men did before their soccer showcase last year in Qatar. Both teams want Canada Soccer to open their books and explain why their programs are being cut this year.
The women, whose existing labour deal expired at the end of 2021, have struck an agreement in principle with Canada Soccer on compensation for 2022 but say other issues have yet to be resolved.
In the beginnging of February, Sinclair said, “As a team, we’ve decided to take job action and from this moment on we’ll not be participating in any Canadian Soccer Association activities until this is resolved. ”
“Until this is resolved, I can’t represent this federation,” added Sinclair, the world’s all-time leading goal-scorer who has won 319 caps for Canada.
The women’s squad said it is “outraged and deeply concerned with the news of significant cuts” to national team programs as it prepares for this summer’s World Cup.
“With the biggest tournament in women’s football history less than six months away, our preparation for the World Cup and the future success of the women’s national team’s program are being compromised by Canada Soccer’s continued inability to support its national teams,” the women said.
“Despite our strong track record of success and history-making achievements for more than a decade, we continue to be told there is not enough money to adequately fund our program and our youth teams.”
Canada Soccer has released details of its proposed collecting bargaining agreement with the men’s and women’s national teams, saying it’s time to get a deal done.
The move is a pre-emptive strike, before four members of the Canadian women’s soccer team aired their grievances before a parliamentary committee later Thursday.
Canada Soccer says its proposed deal would pay both teams the same amount for playing a match, with both squads sharing equally in competition prize money.
Canada Soccer says the women’s team would become the second-highest-paid women’s national squad among FIFA’s 211 member associations, presumably behind the top-ranked U.S.
But it acknowledges that equal pay does not mean equal dollars when it comes to team budgets, saying the competitive calendar and FIFA World Cup qualification pathway for the men comes with “very different costs” than that of the women.
And Canada Soccer says Canadian Soccer Business, which markets its broadcast and sponsorship rights, is willing to amend its controversial agreement with the governing body.
Canada Soccer officials are due to appear before the parliamentary committee on March 20.
Part of the article was reported by CBC.
