US soccer claims women's team is paid higher than men
As U.S. women's soccer players campaign for equal pay, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation claims the women's team actually made more money than its male counterpart in recent years.
The U.S. women’s soccer team filed a motion Thursday asking a judge to rule the gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation in their favor and award them nearly $67 million, avoiding a trial.
The U.S. women’s team seeks more than $66 million in back pay, arguing that the federation made compensation decisions based on gender stereotypes, according to Yahoo Sports. The original lawsuit was filed last March, months before the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which the Americans won handily.
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U.S. Soccer argued that the women’s team were paid under the structure they asked for in the last collective bargaining agreement and that the players “asked for a very different contract” that offered them more benefits that the men’s players did not, including “guaranteed annual salaries, medical and dental insurance, paid child-care assistance, paid pregnancy and parental leave, severance benefits, salary continuation during periods of injury, access to a retirement plan, multiple bonuses and more.”
U.S. Soccer had filed to have the case dismissed entirely. The judge has set a May 5 trial date unless the two parties decide to go to mediation. If not, then the case will go to trial.
The U.S. women’s national team said in a statement the players’ pay structure was lower than their male counterparts in “every instance.”
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Last week, the U.S. men’s national team urged U.S. Soccer to sharply increase the pay of the women’s national team.
“The women's 2017-2021 deal is worse than the men's 2011-2018 deal,” the men’s union said in a statement. “The federation continues to discriminate against the women in their wages and working conditions. ... What we believe should happen is simple. Pay the women significantly more than our recently expired men's deal. In our estimation, the women were due at least triple what our expired deal was worth in player compensation.”
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The union said it issued a statement because “the federation has been working very hard to sell a false narrative to the public and even to members of Congress. They have been using this false narrative as a weapon against current and former members of the United States women's national team.”
They urged fans to write to Congress and to “tell the federation's sponsors you will not support them until the federation starts doing the right thing and gives the women a new CBA that pays a fair share of the gate receipts and television and that sponsorship revenue to the players.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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