Cricketers’ union fears ‘adversarial negotiations’ with Cricket Australia

Australian Cricketers’ Association president Greg Dyer remains miffed with Cricket Australia and fears there could be a return to “adversarial” pay negotiations in the next year.

Discussions between the ACA and CA over pay and conditions for the women’s players were not smooth, and the association failed in its bid to introduce a memorandum of understanding. Despite this, the women’s payment pool jumped from $2.36 million to $4.23 million when announced last month.
Return to bad old days: Greg Dyer is concerned by the ‘adversarial’ nature of negotiations with Cricket Australia.

The ACA felt more should have been achieved for the top-ranked women’s nation, something Dyer has made clear in the latest edition of the ACA’s members’ magazine.
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He also hopes this is not a portent of things to come, for the ACA and CA will soon begin negotiations on a new memorandum of understanding for male cricketers, with the current deal expiring in June next year.

“The ACA has been left disappointed with the way this negotiation [for the women] ceased abruptly. A return to the bad old days of adversarial negotiation – winners and losers – is surely not where we need to go,” Dyer said.

“We have been actively seeking an improvement in the relationship between the ACA and CA, whereby constructive and early stage dialogue would be the norm, heading off the creation of misunderstanding and impasse. We hope that will be more forthcoming in the upcoming MOU negotiations.”

Dyer said he had a “mixture of pride and disappointment” about the deal brokered for the women. This deal meant elite female cricketers who play in the Big Bash League and the national side will pocket more than $100,000 per year. Travel and accommodation benefits have also improved.

“Clearly, women’s cricket is on an upward trajectory, with some great steps forward at its elite level over the last 12 months. There is no question that better arrangements were overdue and it’s important to acknowledge that both the ACA and CA have each played a significant part in achieving them through a constructive process,” Dyer said.

“However, there are some key components still to be discussed, agreed and documented, simply from the perspective of including some basic protections for the women that have always been part of the men’s MOU.”

The last men’s deal was brokered in 2012, and featured a cut from 25 to between 17 and 20 in the number of national players awarded contracts, at the discretion of the selection panel.

The contracts had a greater reliance on performance, with bonuses for series and tournament wins. Players had received a set 26 per cent share of revenue but that was cut to 24.5 per cent under the five-year deal with the prospect of earning as much as 27 per cent depending on series wins and rankings. The minimum base for a CA-contracted player is about $230,000.

Australia are the top-ranked nation in Tests and one-day internationals but sit sixth in the Twenty20 championship