USA Men's and Women's Teams Set to Boycott 2017 WHC?

[hockeyfan1]

As reported earlier this year, the U.S. Women's National Team planned on boycotting this year's 2017 World Women's Hockey Championships in Plymouth, Michigan, USA., which begin April 2.

Now, the U.S. Men's hockey team may elect to do the same by boycotting the 2017 World Hockey Championships , which will be played in France & Germany in May.  As a show of solidarity, and with the backing of the various player organizations - - the NHLPA, NBPA,  NFLPA, MLBPA- - American NHL players are willing to send a message to USA Hockey that they are in tandem with the Women's team to boycott these WHC,  to show their support of the outstanding issues.

The U.S. Women's Team is asking for fair wages and equitable treatment.

?We are asking for a living wage and for USA Hockey to fully support its programs for women and girls and stop treating us like an afterthought,? U.S. women?s national team captain Meghan Duggan said in a statement issued by the lawyers representing the team. ?We have represented our country with dignity and deserve to be treated with fairness and respect.?

Story:
http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/sports/nhl/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/sports/nhl/u-s-mens-hockey-players-may-boycott-world-championships-in-solidarity-with-women-over-wage-dispute

 

[Kin]

The issue doesn't really seem to be that members of the US women's team want "fair" wages, it's that they want wages at all. Apparently they want a deal along the lines of what members of the US women's national soccer teams gets which would effectively make them salaried employees of USA Hockey.

Best of luck to them in their efforts but what they're aiming for would effectively be an entirely new relationship between a national hockey federation and their team, not equity.

 

[Bates]

Apparently they have reached a deal this morning.

 

[hockeyfan1]

The U.S. Women's team is all set for their World Women's Hockey Championships opening game against Team Canada Friday, as they and USA Hockey reached  a four year agreement:

It?s a four-year agreement that pays players beyond just the six-month Olympic period.

"It?s going to be a turning point for women?s hockey in the U.S. (and) I feel like a turning point for women?s hockey in the world," star forward Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson said by phone. "There was compromises on both sides, but the contract in its entirety, it?s going to change the lives of the current players that are on the team right now but (also) for the next generation."

Before this agreement, players said they were paid $1,000 a month around the Olympics, and the new contract is believed to be worth about $3,000 to $4,000 per player per month. Combined with money received from the U.S. Olympic committee, each player could surpass $70,000 in annual earnings, and that number could reach $129,000 in 2018 if the team wins the Olympic gold medal.

Players also received business-class travel, just like the men's team, and insurance protection they asked for.

Melody Davidson, Hockey Canada's general manager of its national women's team program, was pleased that Canada will be able to face their arch-rivals at the world championships.

"We congratulate the U.S. Women's National Team and USA Hockey on reaching an agreement that will allow the world championship tournament to be a best-on-best showcase," said Davidson.

Canada's system is different from the U.S. in that the women on the national team receive carding money of $1,500 per month from Sport Canada year-round.

When the players centralized in Calgary to begin training full time for the 2014 Winter Olympics, Hockey Canada topped that up by about $2,500 per month to cover moving and living expenses.

Own The Podium directs just over a million dollars of taxpayer money annually into the Hockey Canada's female program that includes the developmental and under-18 teams.


http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/usa-hockey-reaches-wage-agreement-womens-players/