February 25, 2010
NO DEAL, NO STRIKE
MLS players won’t walk…for now

There will not be a strike by the Major League Soccer Players, at least for now.

The MLS Players Union issued a statement today, that read:

"Effective at midnight tonight, our collective bargaining agreement with MLS will expire," MLSPU executive director Bob Foose said. "While we expect that negotiations with MLS will resume at some point, there simply hasn't been enough progress made in the negotiations to date to warrant an extension of the old agreement. We have advised our players to keep working for the time being, but as of Friday they will be doing so without a CBA. In the meantime, all options are being considered as the process continues. We are completely committed to forging real changes to the way MLS players are treated."


Major League Soccer, for its part has said it will not lock the players out, and has offered to move forward under terms of the current Collective Bargaining agreement.


The league issued a response to the Players’ statement, saying:

"During the last year, Major League Soccer has been negotiating with the MLS Players Union on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The current CBA expires today and the Players Union would not agree to a further extension.

"We have told the Players Union that the League does not plan to lock out the players and we are prepared to begin the season under the current CBA while we continue to bargain to reach agreement on a new CBA.

"We have listened to the issues raised by the MLS Players Union and the League has made detailed proposals that have addressed these issues, including in the areas of economics, guaranteed contracts, options and the ability of a player to move to another MLS Club if he is released by his current Club. These proposals, which represent substantial changes from the current CBA, will significantly increase our spending and provide substantially more rights to the players."

The two sides have exactly a month to resolve their differences before the scheduled season opener in Seattle, March 25.