New bid to unionize major juniors
Unifor’s CHL effort follows idea derailed by controversy in 2012
MONTREAL — Another bid to try to unionize players in the Canadian Hockey League is afoot — this time with a private-sector union arguing the case.
Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, has taken up the cause from the Canadian Hockey League Players’ Association, whose efforts to promote the idea in the fall of 2012 were derailed by controversy.
“We’re plowing straight ahead and we’ll see where it takes us,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor’s president. “We’re going to try (for this season) and if nothing else we’re going to have the debate.”
The Canadian Hockey League is made up of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League and has 60 teams in nine provinces and five states.
The union drive is in the preliminary stages, Dias acknowledged. They plan to put in place a board of directors.
“We are going to be very careful how we proceed here, because we know everything we do here is going to be met by lawyers,” he said.
“So we are going to make sure that for every step we take forward, we’re doing it right. We’re going to make sure of that. But the key thing is we’re having the debate. The debate is already starting ... about what’s fair compensation, what are they entitled to, why are they being denied access to their education?”
The head of the QMJHL says players are “student athletes playing in an amateur league.”
Dias considers them professionals and contends their current compensation is “ridiculous.” Depending on the league they play in, they get paid $55 a week, he said.
“I think they need to be paid appropriately based on the income of the teams,” Dias said.
Asked why he feels major junior players need to be unionized, Dias said“because they’re being exploited.”
QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau countered that’s “not the case at all.”
“For us it’s a development league. We prepare them for their future ... We’re the best development league in Canada,” he said of the CHL.
“We’re the No. 1 player supplier to the NHL and we want to maintain that. We’re proud of it and players are proud to play in the CHL.”
The QMJHL has a history of close to 45 years “and we’ve been very good to our players. We’ve always improved our situation toward players on a daily basis,” he said.
Players in the Q receive $60 a week. The amount they give to players is an allowance, not a salary, Courteau said.
“And we pay for everything else ... We pay for the billets, we pay for school, we pay for hockey equipment — we pay for everything.”
In comments provided by email from the CHL, OHL commissioner and CHL president David Branch said all three leagues recently made “significant improvements to our education package and expanded the expense allowance.
“We’ve always said and we strongly feel more than ever before that we serve the best interest of our players,” he told The Canadian Press.
CHL teams provide players with education packages if they pursue their studies within a certain time frame after playing major junior. Courteau said he believes the league paid around $685,000 last year for education packages and the money for a player can go up to $20,000 for university tuition.
In the OHL — and up until last year in the QMJHL — players had 18 months to access the money after major junior. (Players in the QMJHL can now access education packages until they’re 23.)
“There shouldn’t be a deadline,” Dias said.