The top tier of women’s football, known as the F League, faces a critical moment as players’ representatives pressed for better terms. A strike was proposed for the opening two match days of the season due to stalled negotiations with club owners over the collective bargaining framework.
Unions that are part of the social-puel bank submitted a formal notice to SIMA, the Confederation Mediation and Arbitration Service, as a preliminary alert to the Ministry for talks about changes and improvements to the female players’ collective agreements in the First League. The Labor and Economic Social Party signaled that a strike could occur for the first two days if a satisfactory agreement could not be reached with employers.
According to the unions, the push for strike action stems from prolonged stagnation in bargaining talks. Their objective is to advance negotiations to secure fair and dignified treatment for players and to address wage gaps that persist in the sector.
In the communication, the unions that form the social bank—FUTPRO, CC.OO, AFE, Futbolistas ON, and UGT—announced to the labor authority that the First League clubs, participating in the 2023/2024 season organized by the Professional Women’s Football League, faced a strike call affecting players employed by sports organizations. The social bank indicated that it would seek a compromise at SIMA’s headquarters. If a consensus cannot be reached, a formal strike notice would be issued to the F League. With more than a year of negotiations yielding no satisfactory agreement, the unions, acting as workers’ representatives, deemed a two-day strike necessary.
On August 28, Yolanda Díaz, the second vice president and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, held talks with FUTPRO president Amanda Gutiérrez to review players’ working conditions and to push for results that guarantee dignified conditions and a work environment free from sexism or violence.
to hit startsIf no agreement is reached, the strike would commence on September 8, 2023, with the first two competition days scheduled to begin at 00:00, the opening day running from August 8 to 10, and the second day from September 15 to 17.