Carlos Cordeiro: U.S. Soccer 'surprised' by women's lawsuit
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Mar 15, 2019
In its first public statement since 28 members
of the U.S. women's national team filed suit against it for gender discrimination, U.S. Soccer released an open letter from its president, Carlos Cordeiro.
In the letter, Cordeiro
emphasized the federation's goal of what he described as providing "fair and equitable pay" for the women, the good will that has been developed since the federation and women reached a new collective
bargaining agreement in 2017 and ongoing efforts to elevate women's soccer.
1. U.S. Soccer's long history being at forefront
of women's soccer. "U.S. Soccer has been and continues to be a champion for women's soccer in the United States and on the global stage."
2. Its increased investment in women's soccer in recent years. "We have added additional technical and high-performance staff focused only on the USWNT, provided additional
charter flights to improve travel, and created two elite women's international tournaments to provide high-level competition in the United States, among other efforts to support the team. We also
continue to expand our investment in female player development programs, including our eight Youth National Team programs and the Girl's Development Academy."
3. Ongoing dialogue with players. "While we believe the current agreement is fair and equitable, we are committed to working with our USWNT players and
understanding specifically where they believe improvement is needed. As we continue to review the lawsuit, we thought it was imperative to reach out to team leaders to better understand their thoughts
and concerns. To that end, on Wednesday I spoke with some of the veteran players to better understand their thoughts and concerns. Our initial conversation was open, cordial and professional, and we
will continue to work to resolve this matter."
Cordeiro also said the players had not raised concerns about the CBA and the federation was therefore "surprised" that the lawsuit was
filed.
While both parties have stressed how much better the working relationship has been, it had been very poor for a while, so it still has a ways to go. Many of the grievances the
players have had with the federation in the lawsuit relate to the EEOC complaint filed in March 2016 -- a year before the new CBA was finalized.
A lawsuit was inevitable, though, once the
EEOC issued a "right-to-sue" letter, following its investigating agent's report that there were a case for discrimination.
The "right-to-sue" letter comes with a 90-day statue of
limitations to proceed with a lawsuit.
Surprised? Really? How disconnected is this Banker-in-charge?
I wonder if he would be surprised if someone told him he's president of US Soccer
*snork* spewed my tea on that one!
This is a joke. They were surprised?
the USWNT has been at the forefront of US and world soccer from the very beginning and they have been treated as second class. Regardless of their success on the field, which has been tremendous, they should be treated as ‘equals’ in all aspects with the USMNT. So, USsoccer please step up and do the ‘right thing’.
I’m sssuming you are referring to women’s soccer only when you state “USWNT has been at the forefront of US and world soccer”.
And in case you’re wondering because of my name, I am a male.
If C.C. is surprised, he should surprise the US soccer community and resign.
Seems US Soccer is consistent in being surprised about anything that pertains to soccer.
This High Comedy!! You can’t make this stuff up!!!
Why else would we think Carlos would say anything else? He is holding on to the same line USSF has had forever regarding the USWNT.
Love the comments above banker-in-charge and best of all "I wonder if Carlos would be surprised to find out he is President of U.S. Soccer.
Carlos, stop embarrassing yourself, resign and let anyone with a clue have your job!
Pay the women more....waaaayyy more
Amazing. All those excuses, but Cordeiro never claimed that US Soccer was complying with the Equal Pay Act? The reason that we have an Equal Pay Act is because people like Cordeiro think it is "fair" to pay women less for doing the same work as a man.
Surprised? Completely clueless, too! The USWNT do not deserve the shoddy treatment they have gotten since forever. And then we have FIFA putting the Women's World Cup on artificial turf in Canada, another disgrace.