February 12 – In a significant escalation of the gender equality pay dispute in the United States, the US men’s national team has leaped to the defence of their female counterparts, urging their federation to triple the pay of the women’s team and accusing the federation of “working very hard to sell a false narrative” in an effort to limit the wages of the reigning women’s world champions.
The union representing the women’s team filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the USSF that is scheduled for trial starting May 5 in in Los Angeles.
“The federation continues to discriminate against the women in their wages and working conditions,” the men said in a statement.
“’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.”
The men claimed the USSF’s intention to keep their salaries at the same level as their just-expired contract was simply “a desperate attempt to cover up the fact that what they did to the women in 2017 is indefensible. The women’s 2017-2021 deal is worse than the men’s 2011-2018 deal.
“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.”
The US men failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup while the country’s women have won four World Cups, more than any other women’s national team.
In their statement the men urged fans to write to Congress and “tell the federation’s sponsors you will not support them until the federation starts doing the right thing” by giving the women a deal “that pays a fair share of the gate receipts and television and that sponsorship revenue to the players.”
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