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Negotiations over a new collective agreement between the Professional Referees Organization (PRO) and the Professional Football Referees Association (PSRA) have not resulted in a new agreement and, barring changes over the next 10 days, a work stoppage is felt” close,” he said. as soon as the source informed about the negotiations. Another source characterizes the negotiations between the two parties as “a very discouraging process so far”.
If it drags on, a work stoppage may occur MLS the need to find replacement officials at the start of the season and pre-season. The current CBA between PSRA and PRO, which has been in effect since the beginning of 2019, expires on January 15. MLS the season begins on February 21 when Lionel MessiS ‘ Inter Miami hosts The real Salt Lake.
PSRA is the trade union it represents professional judges in Major League Soccer, the second and third tier United Soccer Leagues and the National Women’s Soccer League. The PRO, founded in 2012 by MLS and the US Soccer Federation, oversees the professional refereeing landscape in the United States, including scheduling games, evaluating and educating officials and identifying new talent. A related organization, PRO2, oversees operations in NWSL, USL and MLS Next Pro. PSRA and PRO2 ratified a CBA of their own last year.
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“We are negotiating a contract with the same intensity, focus and dedication that we bring to every game as trained officials who live for the sport,” PSRA president Peter Manikowski said in a statement to. Athletics. “At the moment, the parties remain far apart on issues of great importance to the lives and livelihoods of our members. We are frustrated, but we remain committed.”
The PRO will soon face an additional challenge, as the U.S. Soccer Federation will withdraw its financial support for the organization in the near future, multiple sources said on Friday. The federation provided nearly $2 million in funding to PRO in 2022, according to the most recent publicly available financial statements.
A PRO spokesman declined to comment Athletics except to confirm that CBA talks are ongoing. MLS and USSF declined to comment.
Multiple sources said this week that PSRA has a work stoppage fund, with one source characterizing it as “substantial enough for an extended stoppage.” That source described the PSRA membership as largely tied to their dissatisfaction with PRO’s current bid in the CBA negotiations.
“Along with others in this league, we have a major role in gaining the popularity and success of this sport,” the PSRA statement said. “Now, it’s time for the Professional Referees Organization and Major League Soccer to show officials that they, too, value the contribution our members bring to the game.”
Multiple sources familiar with the ongoing talks described the back-and-forth between PRO and PSRA over the past month. In December, those sources said, the PRO offered a 3% across-the-board salary increase for its judges, while the PSRA had sought a raise of up to 90%, the source once said, with the biggest increase reserved for its most senior officials. paid, such as assistant referees and fourth referees. Earlier this week, PRO increased its offer “marginally,” one source said, offering an overall increase of 4-5%, according to another source briefed on the talks.
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If the referees vote to strike, or if the PRO shuts them out, MLS would be forced to use replacement referees in the preseason and potentially when its regular season begins on Feb. 21. The crisis would be averted, of course, if the two sides reached a permanent deal or even reached a temporary extension of the current CBA, something similar to what MLS and the MLS Players Association did during negotiations for the most recent deal of the league’s work with its players.
Although the PRO and PSRA deal with professional referees in multiple leagues throughout American soccer, the salary range in MLS can be indicative of how the scale can vary widely based on experience and position. According to the previous CBA, a copy of which was obtained from Athletics, so-called “probationary” center referees — referees with less than two years of service — receive a base salary of $50,647.90 for their MLS job, which is supplemented by a match fee of $1,350.61 per game. regular season they call. More experienced referees earn anywhere from $95,000 to $108,000 per year, based on the number of matches they’ve called, in addition to the same per-match fee.
Assistant referees also receive the same $1,350.61 per match, but their base pay is much less, falling between $16,038-$21,384 depending on experience. However, one sticking point in how assistant referees are paid under the current CBA is that they do not receive a game fee until the 10th regular season game they have called in a season.
The per-game fees for all officials slide up during the playoffs and for the All-Star Game. For example, for his work at this year’s MLS Cup, center referee Armando Villarreal earned $6,916.57, about five times the amount he would receive during a regular season game.
Assistant video referees and assistant VARs have their own salary range, which is even less than the rest of the crew.
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The previous CBA also outlined a number of other benefits for MLS officials — standard offerings like pension and health insurance, along with reimbursements for travel, cell phone use, gym memberships and other perks.
This is not the first time that PRO and PSRA have entered into a labor dispute. In 2014, after negotiations between the PRO and PSRA deteriorated—with both sides filing complaints against each other with the National Labor Relations Board—the PRO locked out the referees, instead choosing to start the season with a collection of former MLS referees and a handful of referees. others FIFA– certified report. That deadlock lasted three weeks, at which point the two sides agreed to a new, five-year CBA, the first between the PRO and its referees.
Things also got worse in 2019 when the two sides met to hammer out the current CBA, with PSRA again filing an unfair practices complaint with the NLRB and accusing PRO of delaying negotiations for months with the approach of the CBA deadline. The PSRA eventually voted to authorize a strike, although it never came to that, with the two sides eventually reaching an agreement in February of that year.
(Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
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