WNBA Stars Demand Salary Improvements at the All-Star Game
INDIANAPOLIS – During the warm-up before Saturday night’s All-Star Game, WNBA players wore t-shirts with the slogan “Pay Us What You Owe Us.” This action highlighted a crucial point in the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations. The players have made it clear that they will not give in to their demand to address revenue distribution and salaries in the next CBA, which they hope will be “transformative”.The CBA negotiation has been a topic of great controversy during the All-Star weekend. The league and the players’ association met in person for the first time since December, in a meeting that the players called “a missed opportunity” to make real progress in their conversations.The most important thing that is holding things back right now is that we want more salary, we want higher salaries and that kind of thing, but we want to talk about percentages and revenue sharing.
Breanna Stewart, WNBPA Vice President
More than 40 players attended Thursday’s meeting, an unprecedented figure for a CBA negotiation. During her press conference on Saturday, league commissioner Cathy Englebert expressed her satisfaction at seeing so many players interested in the negotiations.We are definitely disappointed. What they presented didn’t come close to what we asked for, it wasn’t even in the same conversation.
Napheesa Collier, WNBPA Vice President
This was a very historic way for the players to introduce themselves, and they understood how big the moment was. We expected more to be achieved given the commitment. I don’t foresee us having another meeting with so many players involved.
Nneka Ogwumike, union president
