Aussie cricket strike looms
A crisis is looming in Australian cricket over a pay dispute between Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA),
This follows ACA’s decision in March to offer large salary increases to men and women for the 2017-2018 season onwards, but that they would no longer receive a fixed percentage of ACA’s revenue.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) is required between the two parties in order for the ACA to issue new contracts from July 1, with both parties blaming the other for behaving in a threatening manner.
For their part, the CA, the governing body of the sport, has said that in the absence of a MoU, players would not have contracts renewed, after expiring on June 30, according to CA chief executive, James Sutherland.
The ACA has, in turn, warned of strike action, which could threaten the elite players from appearing in the 2017/2018 edition of the Ashes (for both women and men).
Chief executive of ACA, Alistair Nicholson, has accused the ACA of incoherence and aggression in negotiations while insisting that players are open to independent mediation from a third party.
He added: “Quite simply, one side entered these negotiations in good faith with an intent to provide a win-win result, and the other is trying to remove player unity and drive a wedge in Australian cricket.”
According to CA’s March proposals, Australian women international players’ annual pay would increase from $79,000 to $179,000 as of July 1.
State cricketers would earn up to $52,000, which was double their current salary.
Average international men’s payments would rise by 25% by the 2021/2022 season, and domestic payments would increase by 18% in that same period.
A number of Australian Test players have come out in support of the ACA stance, which is advocating for a share of the game’s revenue, on social media – Pat Cummins, Shane Watson and Mitchell Starc among them.
The Ashes will take place at the height of the Australian summer from November to January 2018, after playing a two-Test series away against Bangladesh in August.
The current MoU expires in the middle of the 2017 Women’s World Cup, taking place in England and Wales from June 24 until July 23.
Sutherland, however, stated that the current contract for 2016/2017 would apply to the tournament and that players would receive payment in advance.