{"id":163634,"date":"2025-09-17T17:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/163634\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T17:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:35:09","slug":"low-pay-top-issue-in-stalled-talks-between-wnba-and-players-union-peoples-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/163634\/","title":{"rendered":"Low pay top issue in stalled talks between WNBA and players\u2019 union \u2013 People’s World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Low\t<\/p>\n

WNBA solidarity crew| AFL-CIO<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON\u2014With playoffs underway and an October 31 deadline looming on their expiring contract, the Women\u2019s National Basketball Players Association marshalled AFL-CIO and congressional support to get stalled negotiations moving again.<\/p>\n

The Women\u2019s National Basketball Association (WNBA) playoffs began Sept. 14 and are scheduled to end by October 17. Robust ticket sales are enriching the team\u2019s owners, but the players are left behind.<\/p>\n

They are working for a new contract before the deadline of October 31, and fans have joined the labor movement in backing them up.<\/p>\n

The Dallas Wings ended their season with a brilliant 97-76 win over the Phoenix Mercury in Arlington, Texas, Sept. 11. The Players Association saw some of labor\u2019s solidarity as AFL-CIO members and supporters from two counties rallied outside the stadium and led chants of \u201cPay the Players\u201d during the game<\/p>\n

They wore shirts that said \u201cPay them what you owe them.\u201d The solidarity actions were covered by KERA and KNON radio stations, NBC and CBS TV, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tevita Uhutafe and Pauline Mims of the Tarrant Central Labor Council gave rousing talks and organized chants. They said that none of the increasing revenues from women\u2019s basketball is going to the players.<\/p>\n

The Wings franchise has grown in value to $250 million. Ana Gonzales of the Texas AFL-CIO, working with the Players Association, organized the event. About half the turnout came from the Dallas-Fort Worth retiree and Young Active Labor Leaders constituency groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pay is the key issue for the players of the rapidly growing league, whose popularity, crowds and\u2014now\u2014its television contract have zoomed in the past few years. But the owners are getting almost all the benefit, and that\u2019s not right, the players, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, and the lawmakers say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are standing up for all working people,\u201d Shuler told a September 10 press conference. The 85-member House Democratic Women\u2019s Caucus called to publicize their supportive letter for the players, sent to Women\u2019s National Basketball Association Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fight is about economic fairness and dignity and respect on the job,\u201d Shuler said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tarrant County Labor Council President Tevita Uhutafe is addressing labor solidarity activists| Gene Lantz<\/p>\n

Fueled by the national name recognition of sharpshooter Caitlin Clark\u2014who draws capacity crowds everywhere\u2014and rivalries between now-popular teams, the WNBA just signed an 11-year $2.2 billion television contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Puts money in owner pockets<\/p>\n

That puts so much money in owners\u2019 pockets that the players, whose performances on the court\u2014and activism off of it\u2014produce that interest and that cash, want an equal share of the take, just like their male counterparts in the National Basketball Association. They now get 9%, Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, said.<\/p>\n

The women took their cause public during the now-concluding regular season, marching onto courts nationwide in mid-August wearing uniform tops reading \u201cPay us what you owe us!\u201d The letter and press conference about the stalled talks were their next step.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gap between franchise profit and player pay is drastic. Players drive the league\u2019s success, yet owners walk away with most of the financial rewards,\u201d the lawmakers wrote. \u201cThe WNBPA is seeking a new agreement that aligns player salaries with the league\u2019s growing financial success.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawmakers also called the negotiations \u201chistoric.\u201d They reminded Engelbert that the talks are occurring when \u201cwomen are under constant attack right now.\u201d The letter does not specify who\u2019s attacking women\u2019s pay and rights, but the answer is in daily headlines involving the GOP Trump regime and its attack on workers\u2014especially female workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gender wage gap widened for the first time in 20 years. Women are leaving the workforce rapidly. This new CBA deal is an opportunity to set the record straight that women are valuable workers who deserve to be paid accordingly and treated fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unions for both the female and male basketballers are in the AFL-CIO and its recently formed sports union caucuses. The men\u2019s NBA Players Association also supports the women\u2019s cause. Their members get approximately 50% of all revenues flowing into that league, including money from endorsements and sponsorships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The female players get none of that outside revenue. They\u2019re also recipients of condescension. \u201cMost of the people in the league office believe we don\u2019t understand\u201d the economics of the two leagues, whose staffs in New York are still intertwined, said Women\u2019s National Basketball Players Association President Nneka Ogwumike.<\/p>\n

Those economics have skyrocketed, with WNBA franchises now worth tens of millions of dollars each, and with net league revenues, from all of its teams, rising from a combined $102 million in 2019 to $119 million in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven it is the policy of the United States to facilitate collective bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), we urge you to bargain in good faith to reach a fair CBA in a timely manner before the October 31 deadline,\u201d the 85 female lawmakers wrote Engelbert.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The players\u2019 union sent a first proposal to the WNBA in February, and a follow-up reminder in the spring, but got no response until June, the solons said. The two sides met in July in Indianapolis and offered a first proposal. But it was a wasted opportunity with both parties remaining very far apart on even preliminary discussions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs firm believers that women workers deserve to be properly compensated, we are concerned about the WNBA\u2019s delayed response, differing accounts on the status of negotiations, and that the needs of players are not being fully addressed\u2026Reports suggest this offer\u201d in July \u201cfalls short of players\u2019 demands, especially regarding revenue sharing and salaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to remind them that the world is watching and of the duty to bargain in good faith,\u201d said the women\u2019s caucus\u2019s spokeswoman at the press conference. Besides, added Rep. Angie Clark, DFL-Minn., the women players \u201cput in much more work than the men.\u201d <\/p>\n

We hope you appreciated this article. At\u00a0People\u2019s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading\u00a0People\u2019s World\u00a0and the stories we bring you, please\u00a0support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today<\/a>. Thank you!<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCONTRIBUTOR<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Mark<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gene<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBA solidarity crew| AFL-CIO WASHINGTON\u2014With playoffs underway and an October 31 deadline looming on their expiring contract, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[1929,99132,99,2830,434,1764,99133],"class_list":["post-163634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-labor","tag-nlrb","tag-sports","tag-u-s","tag-wnba","tag-women","tag-women-s-equality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}