Spain’s top women footballers go on strike over pay dispute
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Spain’s top women football players went on strike on Saturday in a dispute over working conditions and minimum wage.
The two-day strike action resulted in the cancellation of eight matches scheduled to take place over the weekend.
Just under 200 players from 16 different clubs in the country’s Women’s First Division voted in October to go on strike after negotiations between the different bodies collapsed.
Players are demanding that the annual minimum wage for full-time contracts be increased to €16,000 while that of part-time contracts be boosted to €12,000. They are also calling for a maternity package and paid holidays.
The Association of Women’s Football Clubs (ACFF) argues however that smaller clubs could not afford to increase the minimum salary from the current €8,000 per year.
The UD Granadilla Tenerife club, whose team was meant to clash with RCD Espanyol on Saturday, said in a statement that they “respect the position of the players to support the strike.”
“Staff, technical body and management wish that a fruitful and positive agreement will soon be reached between all the parties involved, for the sake of women’s football and generations to come,” it added.