MADRID, March 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Association of Spanish Soccer Players (AFE) has announced that it will negotiate the collective agreement for the players with the corresponding employers in each category, because, according to it, it is “impossible” to do it jointly for them “because each one has a specificity different”.
In a statement, AFE indicated that together with the UGT it launched the process for the promotion of the electoral process, “with the objective of choosing the social bank on behalf of the soccer players”, to negotiate the collective agreement of the First Federation, the highest category non-professional men’s soccer.
In this sense, he indicated that “more than half” of the 40 clubs in the category have already transferred the electoral census of the soccer players who will be able to exercise their right to vote.
“This is a necessary process and demanded by the footballers, who will benefit from a new Collective Agreement for the category in order to adapt to the current reality the just demands of our First Federation colleagues,” he stressed.
AFE recalled that on February 23 it already reported that its objective was to seal collective agreements for the soccer players of the different national categories. “After the First Federation, our association intends to initiate the same procedure in the Second Federation, Third Federation, First FUTFEM Federation, Second FUTFEM Federation and First National FUTFEM. In each case, negotiations will be carried out with the corresponding employers’ association,” he stressed.
The reason is that, for AFE, it is “impossible” to negotiate jointly or sign a common Collective Agreement for all categories because each one has a different specificity. “The employers’ association changes depending on each category and this system proposed by a union of low representation of joint negotiation would mean the expulsion of many footballers as many clubs cannot assume certain costs,” he said.
In sports, the union chaired by David Aganzo “does exist” the differentiation of categories based on sex and discipline, something that does not happen in other areas of work. “Therefore, each collective agreement must be adapted based on gender and sporting activity. We must remember the cases of agreements for men’s basketball, men’s futsal, and men’s handball,” he said.
For AFE it is “fundamental” to insist that any collective agreement must be negotiated by employers and unions with legitimate representation, in no case by a sports federation, whether territorial or national.
“A very important aspect to highlight is that the new Sports Law fully legitimizes athletes’ associations to negotiate their respective collective agreements, a key issue on which AFE worked conscientiously in the process that gave rise to the new law”, reviewed.