It was a marathon day between the five unions that represent the soccer players (FUTPRO, AFE, Futbolistas ON, CC OO and UGT) and the LaLiga employers, in addition to their lawyers and various representatives of the F League teams —Atlético, Athletic and Levante Las Planas—; It was also the confirmation that the strike announced by the soccer players of the first two days of the league will continue forward; And it was, of course, a new failure of some negotiations framed in the collective agreement that began on January 25 of the previous year, stalled by decree. And the fault was 3,000 euros.
All summoned at 10.30 in the morning at the offices of SIMA (Interconfederal Mediation and Arbitration Service FSP), time was running against everyone because the F League begins this weekend and the notice that the soccer players would not put on shoes flew over the boots, dissatisfied with the amount of professionalism that is demanded and the little that is recognized. That’s why they sent last week a mail to the employers – with a sender to the Ministry of Labor, as required by law – to warn that they would go on strike the first two days of the season. They understood that the basic conditions were not improved, some minimum. Not only economically, but also in aspects of family reconciliation and maternity, aid for breastfeeding or caring for children during training, as well as aid for the training and professional development of soccer players, among which are creation of a fund to cover his university studies. It was an agreement for three seasons. But since the will to speak has hardly been given, the terms changed on the run so that, at least, the ball would start rolling this weekend. Not with those.
The unions, given that the no The greeting was from the employers’ association, they decided to propose —always with the approval of the players’ assembly, with whom they spoke regularly during the day via telematics— a first agreement that would be based on economics and that would only be for this season, with the condition of continuing to speak during the course about the agreement. Not a word was said about the rest of the matters and folders. Thus, the social part proposed a salary reduction of 5,000 euros early in the morning, since of the 30,000 they demanded, they remained at 25,000. An offer that the employers discussed and in which the clubs participated, private dialogues that lasted for two hours and that ended in a refusal. So they offered 20,000 when the most they had proposed to date was 18,000 in a four-season plan that gradually rose to 20,000 in the following year, 22,000 in the 2025-26 academic year, and 24,000 in the next. The players rejected the offer and started over.
The next step for the unions was to lower the minimum wage to 24,000 and the employer did not move from 20,000. More of the same. And as a last attempt, the players said they would accept 23,000 euros. After another two hours meeting the employers, it stayed at 20,000, refusing to make an extension. “Well, we’re going on strike,” resolved the assembly of soccer players, who do not understand that for 3,000 euros, which would affect between 130 and 150 players, an agreement cannot be reached, at least for this season. The employer’s response, which already knows that at least in the first day of the league the ball will not roll, was to summon the unions again next Tuesday at the SIMA offices. “But if today they tell us that they go up to 23,000, the strike ends immediately,” warn the unions.
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