CA proposes revised remuneration offer to end impasse

CA proposes revised remuneration offer to end impasse

Cricket Australia (CA) has revised its remuneration offer to its players in a desperate bid to resolve the pay dispute engulfing Australian cricket before the June 30 deadline.

In a letter sent on Friday (June 23) by Kevin Roberts, CA's executive general manager, to the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA), a revised offer includes all domestic players having a share of the game's surplus and increases their annual pay rises.

The sticking point in negotiations has revolved around CA's contentious bid to overhaul the revenue sharing model, which has been at the core of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the past 20 decades.

CA has not yielded to the ACA's desires to retain the current model but said under the revised offer it would increase the $20 million cap on the share of international cricket surplus to include all domestic players.

"Player feedback suggests that the sharing of international cricket surpluses with male and female domestic players and the level of pay increases for male state players are critical issues for them," Roberts wrote.

"CA is now offering to: increase the international cricket surpluses that are shared with players; include all domestic players in the sharing arrangements, and increase annual pay rises to male state players (with commensurate increases for WNCL and WBBL players to maintain gender pay).

"On a related matter and as previously advised, contract offers are being distributed to all players to give them an opportunity to seek advice," he added. "These contracts are conditional upon a new MoU being agreed. If further increases in pay are agreed for male state players, along with WNCL and WBBL players due to the increases contemplated above, the offers in the contracts would be varied accordingly."

With just seven days until the current MoU expires, CA is desperate to resolve the dispute, which threatens to throw Australian cricket into turmoil. Elite players, who will be out of contract from July 1, have threatened to ply their trade elsewhere, including in exhibition matches and South Africa's new T20 league.

Earlier, before CA's revised offer, ACA president Greg Dyer said negotiations had "failed to achieve a breakthrough". "With only seven days until the June 30 deadline, the ACA calls for emergency mediation to be conducted at CEO level," he said. "As things stand, from June 30 most of Australia's elite male and female cricket players will be unemployed, jeopardising upcoming tours and ultimately the summer of cricket. This creates uncertainty for broadcasters, sponsors, players and administrators."