Australian cricket in crisis as pay talks fall over
SYDNEY: The pay dispute negotiations between Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) fell apart on Friday, Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The ACA has claimed that their proposal to end the pay war was dismissed by the governing body.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, ACA held an emergency two-hour board meeting on Friday afternoon, and had resolved to continue its fight to retain a pay model it believes is fair.
Cricket Australia has informed that they were shocked by the ACA’s claim and had not been formally notified of the ACA’s position.
As far as CA is concerned, talks are ongoing and nothing has been rejected.
CA spokesperson declined to provide any detail on the ongoing negotiations.
The bizarre differing of opinions from both camps indicates that an agreement is likely still a long way from being achieved, with Australia’s Test tour of Bangladesh now in grave danger of being bulldozed, Australia-based Daily Telegraph reports.
CA says it had sent the cricketers an agenda after negotiations reopened on Monday.
ACA however says that CA’s latest draft proposal has come back to them in the past 24 hours with all references to revenue share removed — leaving the ACA furious.
The players are being kept on the loop by the ACA on the current state of the negotiations.
Previously it had been reported, that talks were progressing at a slow rate and the ‘revenue share model’ was still the main point of contention.
The CA claims that it needs more money available for development of grassroots cricket.
The cricketers have said that they are willing to tip a ‘significant contribution’ that CA owes them into grassroots cricket.
Over 200 Australian cricketers, including Test stars, have been unemployed for three weeks and that has saved CA $2 million in wages so far. Reports suggest that the money will be directed to grassroots level.
The players vowed on Friday night that they were united in their fight to remain a “partner” in the sport, and not just an employee.
The cricketers had previously said that they would not head to overseas tours without an agreement on the Memorandum of Understanding.
Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2017