The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
U.S. women to boycott games over wages
The U.S. women’s hockey team announced it will boycott upcoming world championship tournament on home ice unless there is significant progress in settling a wage dispute with USA Hockey.
The U.S. women’s hockey team announced Wednesday that it will boycott the upcoming world championship tournament on home ice unless there is significant progress in settling a wage dispute with USA Hockey.
Players said they informed USA Hockey that they would not report to training camp next Wednesday without clear steps toward what they hope is a four-year contract. The U.S. is the defending champion after winning the gold medal last year.
“To voluntarily take ourselves out of the running to (repeat) is not easy, but it’s what’s right and we’re asking for what’s right and fair,” forward Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson said by phone. “It’s definitely hard. But as a group we’ve made this decision and as a team and I’m proud to do this with my teammates and to stand arm in arm with them and to say enough is enough.”
A spokesman for USA Hockey said the organization would have a statement later Wednesday. The International Ice Hockey Federation tournament begins March 31 in Plymouth, Michigan.
The players are seeking a contract with USA Hockey that they say “includes appropriate compensation.” John Langel, a lawyer for the players, wouldn’t reveal monetary figures players were asking for but characterized the negotiating gap between them and USA Hockey as a chasm.
The players have had contracts only in Olympic years and are seeking a deal that covers them in all other years. According to Lamoureux-Davidson and the law firm representing players, USA Hockey has paid players $1,000 a month during their six-month Olympic residency period and nothing the rest of the time.
“They’re looking for support for every year so that they don’t have to have second and third jobs and don’t have to have family supporting them,” Langel said by phone, adding that players are looking for a four-year contract and have been for more than a year.
Captain Meghan Duggan said players are asking USA Hockey “to fully support its programs for women and girls and stop treating us like an afterthought.” Lamoureux-Davidson said players are hopeful that taking a stand will force the issue.
“We all want to go play,” she said. “But it’s been 14 months and we haven’t seen progress, so if there’s progress within the next week and a half, we’ll see. But there needs to be significant steps taken and hopefully USA Hockey finds this significant enough to want to start making progress with us.”