Canada women’s soccer players end strike after one day amid lawsuit threat

ORLANDO, Fla. — The players of the Canadian women’s soccer team ended their strike after one day on Saturday amid the threat of a big-money lawsuit by the national governing body.

Canada Soccer and the players’ union met behind closed doors all day, with a union statement saying “the concerns of the players were discussed in detail.” The governing body’s representatives included president Nick Bontis and general secretary Earl Cochrane, Canadian sports TV network TSN reported.

The outcome was clearly not what the players wanted.

“Prior to that meeting, Canada Soccer told us that they consider our job action to be an unlawful strike,” the union’s statement said. “They told us that if we did not return to work — and did not commit today to playing in Thursday‘s game against the United States — they would not only take legal action to force us back to the pitch but would consider taking steps to collect what could be millions of dollars in damages from our Players’ Association and from each of the individual players currently in camp.”

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The threatened sum was bad enough on its own, but making things worse was a claim by the players that they have “received no compensation yet for any of our work for Canada Soccer in 2022.”

That schedule included 14 games: three home friendlies across the spring; five games at the Concacaf women’s championship in Mexico in July; a two-game friendly trip to Australia in September; friendlies in Spain against Argentina and Morocco in October; and a two-game friendly trip to Brazil in November.

Canada reached the final of the Concacaf tournament, losing, 1-0, to the United States a year after beating its perennial rival in the Olympics semifinals. The Canucks went on to win gold in Tokyo, the nation’s first major women’s soccer title after bronze medals in 2012 and ‘16.

“We cannot afford the risks that personal action against us by Canada Soccer will create,” the union’s statement said. “Because of this, we have advised Canada Soccer that we will return to training tomorrow [Sunday] and will play in the SheBelieves Cup as scheduled.”

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Behind closed doors

It’s unclear whether the strike was legal under Canadian law. There are signs that it was not.

TSN reported that the union requested a formal document called a “no board report” from a government-appointed mediator in a filing with the minister of labor in the province of Ontario. Canada Soccer’s headquarters are in the nation’s capital, Ottawa, Ontario.

Once the desired report is is issued, a 17-day countdown starts to a union being legally able to strike.

The Canadian women’s players have been without an active collective bargaining agreement since the end of 2021, a source with knowledge of the matter told The Inquirer.

TSN reported that from 2018-22, Canada Soccer received $12.7 million in federal money that was earmarked specifically for the national women’s team. The players say they’ve had no clarity about where that money went and have complained about significant budget cuts to their program in a World Cup year.

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News of the strike flew across mainstream and social media, drawing support from fans and players worldwide. The threatened lawsuit was just as strongly condemned.

“The lawsuit threat seems desperate, but it worked for now,” leading Canadian sports columnist Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star wrote on Twitter. “The players must be furious.”

Word flew across downtown Ottawa, too, and into the halls of Parliament. Canada’s national minister for sport, Pascale St-Onge, told TSN on Saturday that she will get involved in trying to settle the dispute. On Friday night, Canada’s men’s players union called on St. Onge to “intervene to remove” Canada Soccer’s leadership.

The men’s union has its own set of issues with Canada Soccer, including profiting from players’ names, images, and likenesses “without player consent or compensation.”

The women’s team is currently in a training camp in Florida ahead of the start of the SheBelieves Cup on Thursday in Orlando. Canada’s first game is against the United States at 7 p.m., with Brazil and Japan kicking off the round-robin tournament at 4 p.m.

“To be clear,” Canadian star player Christine Sinclair wrote on Twitter, “We are being forced back to work for the short term. This is not over. We will continue to fight for everything we deserve and we will win. The She Believes is being played in protest.”

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Canada Soccer said in a statement of response: “Canada Soccer respects the players’ right to organise. The players, while having taken job action, were not and are not in a legal strike position under Ontario labour law. Canada Soccer was not prepared to jeopardize the SheBelieves Cup tournament, the preparation it would afford the Women’s National Team for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, nor the experience it would afford countless fans who had undoubtedly traveled to Orlando to see their National Team heroes.”

As a result, the statement said, “Canada Soccer therefore took the necessary steps to ensure that such games will be played as scheduled. Canada Soccer is heartened that the Women’s National Team Players will play as [they] committed.”

All games of the SheBelieves Cup will be available on streaming platform HBO Max in English, and Telemundo-owned TV channel Universo and streaming platform Peacock in Spanish. TNT will carry the U.S.’ subsequent games, against Japan next Sunday in Nashville (3:30 p.m.) and Brazil the following Wednesday in suburban Dallas (7 p.m.).