Agree terms or CA won't pay you - Sutherland, CA threatens players with unemployment[Update Post 6: Australian Players and Players Association respond,May consider strike]

[Malcolm Merlyn]

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Australia's players have been threatened with unemployment by the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, in what amounts to a declaration of war on the Australian Cricketers Association.

In a letter forwarded to all male and female contracted players on Friday and seen by ESPNcricinfo, Sutherland stated that the board and state associations plan to present contract offers to CA and state players before the expiry of the current MoU on June 30. Terms of the contracts are to be in line with the current pay proposal, which was rejected by the ACA two weeks ago.

Should no MoU agreement be reached by the deadline, Sutherland wrote, the board will not be offering payment to players under any alternative model, whether it be a rollover of the current MoU or the use of tournament-by-tournament contracts.

 

Delivered to the ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson on the same day its president Greg Dyer requested independent mediation to end the present stand-off, Sutherland's message constitutes a major escalation of the conflict between the board and the players, heightening the likelihood of industrial action. Australia are scheduled to tour Bangladesh and India, prior to next summer's Ashes series, after the MoU expires.

 

"In the absence of the ACA negotiating a new MoU, players with contracts expiring in 2016-17 will not have contracts for 2017-18," Sutherland wrote. "Players with existing multi-year State or BBL contracts that expire after 2017 will be required to play in 2017-18 and will be paid the retainer specified in their contract, regardless of whether a new MOU is in place; and in the absence of a new MoU, the Australian Women's World Cup Squad will be paid in advance of the June/July World Cup and will be employed until the end of the event.

"To be very clear, in the absence of a new MoU, CA is not contemplating alternative contracting arrangements to pay players beyond 30 June if their contracts have expired."

Also attached to the letter is a list of CA rebuttals of the ACA's alternative pay proposal, which featured a "win/win" split of the game's revenue with 22.5% to go to the players, 22.5% to go to the game's lower levels, and the remaining 55% left to CA to run the game. Sutherland wrote the ACA response "seeks to inappropriately expand its role as a players' representative body into that of a de-facto administrator".

In maintaining CA's view that the current MoU model is outdated and limiting the board's ability to adequately fund the development of the game around Australia, Sutherland also claimed that some players have expressed unease about the ACA's unwillingness to look more closely at the new pay offer. On Thursday, fast bowler Mitchell Starc stated that none of the nation's top players would contemplate a contract offer until an MoU deal is reached.

 

"In its defence of the status quo, the ACA's narrative about the history and supposed sanctity of the existing pay model has unfairly placed current players in a difficult position," Sutherland wrote. "I understand that some have been made to feel that accepting the relatively minor but necessary changes to the existing pay model, while being paid more, would somehow be 'letting the side down'.

"This is nonsense. Nothing decided by today's players binds future generations, just as nothing decided by past players should govern current players' decisions concerning their own careers and welfare. Future players will have their own opportunities to negotiate an MoU that suits them and the circumstances of the game at the time."

Relations between the board and the ACA have been deteriorating for some years, dating back to the 2014 departure of the former chief executive Paul Marsh to take up the equivalent role with the AFL players association. The AFL is set to announce its own pay deal, placing pressure on cricket to reach a similar point of agreement.

"For at least five months, Cricket Australia has been unambiguously clear that the twenty-year old pay model needs to be adapted in the next MoU to reflect the changing landscape of the game," Sutherland wrote. "In particular, CA has identified the need to significantly boost funding for grassroots cricket.

"CA firmly believes that the proposal is a fair deal for all players. It is therefore surprising and regrettable that the ACA is yet to engage in negotiations on any element of it. Instead, the ACA spent weeks developing a response which merely seeks to defend and entrench the status quo.

"It is clear to me that the only way forward is for the ACA to engage in focused and constructive negotiations based on the proposal put forward by CA in March. With 30 June now only weeks away, the ACA is fast running out of time to engage with CA's proposal and optimise the outcomes for players."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/1097556.html

[BeautifulGame]

 

[Ultimate_Game]

I see an opportunity for BCCI/IPL to lure some of the top players away by offering a better paying contract. Sign Smith, Warner and Starc to a long term contract and watch the fun  

[sandeep]

What an absolute dick move.   Like I posted on the other thread - IPL should start offering 3 year contracts guaranteeing the base prices for the top 30 players in cricket.  With no ceiling on what they can make with auction bids.  Do this, and expansion to a 12 team 3 month season is assured.  Would be the ideal revenge against the other boards' machinations against the BCCI.

[Malcolm Merlyn]

Quote

Australia's players have been considering the possibility of strike action since as early as January, according to the former Test captain and Cricket Australia board director Mark Taylor.

As the Australian Cricketers' Association responded to the threat of CA's chief executive James Sutherland that the players will cease to be paid after June 30 unless the ACA agrees to the board's current pay offer, Taylor revealed the depth of the players' feeling while describing his frustration at the lack of any constructive negotiation.

Following ESPNcricinfo's report on Sutherland's letter, numerous Australian players, including Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Aaron Finch, took to Twitter to maintain their strong support for the ACA, using the #fairshare hashtag. Starc wrote the dispute "makes for an interesting men's and women's Ashes", while the former England batsman Kevin Pietersen wrote "Fairly big player strike soon in Aus..."

"The board and CA in general have been frustrated by the fact there has been no negotiation. I had players say to me in January of this year 'we could well be on strike by July'. This is before this MOU was presented," Taylor, who was captain of the national team when the first MOU was struck in 1998, said on Channel Nine.

"I'm not surprised James has done what he's done. Things haven't been going anywhere for months now, and I know Cricket Australia feel the ACA aren't negotiating at all. CA want to change the MOU, want to get away from the revenue sharing model, although the deal being offered to the players is still revenue sharing to a certain extent. No-one's worse off, women are going to be very well paid in the new model.

"But right from the word go, the ACA - I'm not so sure about the players - have not wanted to engage at all on this deal that's been offered. It's all about status quo or the highway, and I don't think you can negotiate that way."

Taylor said CA was intent on breaking up the fixed revenue percentage model because the board did not think it was sustainable. "It doesn't make business sense for Cricket Australia," he said. "Every time you make money you have to give away a certain percentage of it. The costs of revenue are going up in sport all the time, every sport will say that.

"This could be a win-win. Both side have to negotiate, Cricket Australia has said right from the word go there is our deal. There has been no discussion, or any negotiation on the detail of that deal. The deal they want is status quo."

Alistair Nicholson, the ACA chief executive, criticised what he called CA's attempt to "drive a wedge in Australian cricket" and reiterated the association's call for independent mediation of pay talks.

"Clearly, we are disappointed that CA are threatening the players," Nicholson said. "It's also a window into the nature of CA's behaviour in these negotiations so far. There is incoherence and aggression in what we have experienced at the negotiating table from CA. This has further been demonstrated this week with some top players being offered multi-years deals one day only to now be threatened the next.

"However, despite these threats, the players affirm their offer to participate in independent mediation. 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. Further lighting the fuse on this dispute on the eve of the Ashes and during discussions with potential broadcasters and sponsors is quite baffling.

"The point lost on CA is that the players will not respond to threats, whilst broadcasters and sponsors need certainty. That's why we state again, for the good of the game, that it is time to sit down in mediation rather than make unnecessary threats and create such uncertainty."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/1097716.html

[mishra]

Ashes is in November. I poor performance and some heads will be chopped. Players know this.

Sutherland is under pressure as players have allready told that they are going to market  their image right.

cant fault players here. Offcourse they want most pay at the same time winning most tourneys.

[YCCC]

Another cricket board determined to kill the game. Keep the players happy (yes you CA,WICB) and keep your current fanbase happy (looking at you ECB) and there you have it. Simple. Cricket should thrive by following these simple steps.

Edited May 14, 2017 by YCCC

[Khota]

India should stay away from this dispute. Southerland has lost his mind. He got too close to the empire and had started thinking like them.

[YCCC]

Without the players and fans there would be no CA, WICB or FTECB. The fat cats in charge would do well to remember that.

[mishra]

^ Fans are not going any where till Sutherland's term. It's cricketers who are being asked to not ask for more money. While they can be replaced, I dont see fans allowing that.

Edited May 15, 2017 by mishra

[sandeep]

6 hours ago, YCCC said:

Without the players and fans there would be no CA, WICB or FTECB. The fat cats in charge would do well to remember that.

Its shameless how the Aussie board is trying to justify their desire to reduce the players rights, and somehow spin it as its good for them.    I want the BCCI to implement revenue sharing for the Indian players as well - the previous Aussie setup is the model for a really fair arrangement - for players as well as the board.   Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Kriterion]

There's plenty of time to sort this out before the Ashes starts. In the end, the CA will have give up concessions to the players, since the players are irreplaceble. 

 

There's no way Australia will become Zimbabwe. 

[velu]

players are financially doing well thnaks to bcci

 

[sandeep]

6 minutes ago, Kriterion said:

There's plenty of time to sort this out before the Ashes starts. In the end, the CA will have give up concessions to the players, since the players are irreplaceble. 

 

There's no way Australia will become Zimbabwe. 

In a world where Aussie players wouldn't have the option of big paychecks from IPL, this dispute between the Aussie board and players would have turned out very different.  Its very clear that the Aussie board knows that their TV revenue is going to go up with the next BBL tv contracts, and they don't want to give up any percentage to the players - they'd rather have the players on fixed salaries while raking in maximum profits.   Zimbabwe is the wrong comparsion - Australian board is on the path where the West Indies Board has already reached - a world where the best players don't trust their home board, and are not willing to sacrifice their earnings for the sake of maximizing board profits, and as a result, the national team suffers.   

[Pakistani]

On 13/05/2017 at 4:43 PM, sandeep said:

What an absolute dick move.   Like I posted on the other thread - IPL should start offering 3 year contracts guaranteeing the base prices for the top 30 players in cricket.  With no ceiling on what they can make with auction bids.  Do this, and expansion to a 12 team 3 month season is assured.  Would be the ideal revenge against the other boards' machinations against the BCCI.

But dont you think it would be revenge against cricket in general too when PSL and other leagues would be close to IPL and giving more money to players considering market and growth.

Cricket would take a route of football and Players would happily choose leagues over International.

And bear in mind without Intetnationals Leagues would be nowhere to be found due to various reasongs amongst one of them is production of quality players becoz its internationals not leagues who produce players.

[Khota]

49 minutes ago, Pakistani said:

But dont you think it would be revenge against cricket in general too when PSL and other leagues would be close to IPL and giving more money to players considering market and growth.

Cricket would take a route of football and Players would happily choose leagues over International.

And bear in mind without Intetnationals Leagues would be nowhere to be found due to various reasongs amongst one of them is production of quality players becoz its internationals not leagues who produce players.

I would be happy when the day comes that PSL is close to IPL. Football is the model cricket has to follow.

[iam_rahul]

Their country their players. What the eff is the problem with you peopl 

[iam_rahul]

Intnl cricket comes aboce everything. No matter what these teens sitting in their basement thinks. 

Leagues with fixed matches are nothing but a joke. That means every league everywhere. It shud he reduced for one month if possible. 

Edited May 16, 2017 by iam_rahul

[iam_rahul]

Comparing football to cricket really?? Lmao.. 

Football has always been a sport based on clubs and sporadic international matches. Cricket has always been a nation v nation sport. 

[Khota]

That is your opinion. Not a fact. Cricket will only grow thru clubs. Cricket was stagnant for 100 years when it was nation vs nation.