“In the context of a new professional competition, we consider that female refereeing must have minimum conditions for the exercise of our activity within the professional competition. It is not conceivable that the refereeing status is the only that it remains on the sidelines of a growth that we consider both fair and necessary”, claims the statement that was posted on social networks this Thursday evening and that still stands. “The referees want to provide the best possible service to football and this necessarily requires having minimum working conditions similar to those of the refereeing of the men’s professional competition, which implies being able to have similar working conditions that allow us dedicating the necessary necessary time required to be in a professional competition. We are looking forward to stepping on the playing fields again, but under the right conditions,” he adds.
Lack of agreement when there are less than 24 hours left for the start of the League
A few minutes after the referees made their decision public, the League responded by directly accusing the president of the Federation, Luis Rubiales, “of using the woman as a battering ram to achieve his only goal, to destroy Spanish women’s football and prevent for women’s professional soccer to grow the way it is.” “Two days ago, the League submitted an important proposal to the representatives of the RFEF, whereby the arbitration team would quadruple its income, prioritizing an imminent agreement on the conditions of the referees and offering to negotiate the rest of the related aspects with the refereeing role for next week. Unfortunately, although not surprisingly, not even a response has been obtained from RFEF managers,” states the competition’s brief urging referees to sit directly on negotiate their terms, leaving the Federation aside.
The proposal received by the arbitrators “does not reach the interprofessional minimum wage” [1.126 € en 12 pagues o 965 en 14], taking into account that collegiate women do not manage more than two matches per month on average. “In addition, loose amounts have been offered without specifying anything and forgetting about the fourth referees”, sources from the negotiation emphasize to the ARA. There is no agreement between the parties and the arbitrators, so the assistants reaffirm their “indefinite strike” and call a press conference for this Monday at 12.30 pm to be able to explain the reasons for this decision.
