The F League will not start this weekend. After three days of meetings, employers and unions did not reach an agreement on the minimum wage of the new collective agreement. 3,000 euros still separate the claims of one and the other, the 20,000 gross annual euros offered by League F for this 2023-24 season and the 23,000 demanded by the unions, who have given up applying this increase with one year of retroactivity. Both sides have given in with respect to their latest proposals, but it is still not enough to close an agreement. They have agreed to continue negotiating next week, with the aim of trying to avoid the second day of strike called for the weekend of September 16 and 17.
A strike for the first two days of the League that the unions announced on September 1, to the surprise of the League F, due to the deadlock in the negotiations a year after the negotiating table for the new agreement with class in July 2022. They demand “a fair and dignified treatment” that allows them to “reduce the wage gap” in addition to other advances in social matters. Before the strike call, the last proposal from the employer had been 16,500 euros for the 2022-23 season; 17,500, in 2023-2024, and 19,000, in 2024-2025. The unions (Futpro, the AFE, Futbolistas ON, CC.OO. and the UGT), on the other hand, asked to reach 30,000 euros in three years. The referees charge 25,000.
With the announcement of the stoppage, the Interconfederal Mediation and Arbitration Service (Avenc), which has been between the parties, was activated. Since Monday, they have met every day in marathon sessions of more than ten hours that ended on Wednesday night without an agreement. Both sides have given in to their demands, but they continue without reaching an agreement. The minimum wage, set in the current agreement, dates from 2020 and is 16,000 euros per year. On Tuesday, the F League offered to raise it to 18,000 euros, reaching 25,000 in three seasons, but the unions, despite having lowered their requests, are still far away. On Wednesday, the employer agreed to raise 2,000 euros and offered 20,000 in an agreement for a single season, which could rise to 23,000 if there were profits. The response of the social bank was also to lower 2,000 euros and set the minimum salary at 23,000 for this season, which would be 25,000 with benefits.
Yesterday the president of League F, Beatriz Álvarez, admitted to RAC1 that she feels “frustrated” by the failure of the negotiations and reiterated the “extra effort” that the clubs are making. The employer has more than once denounced the “economic suffocation” to which the clubs have been subjected by the Federation and the Superior Sports Council (CSD), because they are “obliged to give 20% of commercial income” to the Federation. It was precisely the entry of the CSD that managed to unblock the arbitration strike last year with a financial contribution from the Central Government that allowed the salary increase of the collegiate women up to 25,000 euros per year. It remains to be seen if they mediate again.
