Collective bargaining Agreement

[mothy]

Australian rugby has begun 2018 in a more positive way than it left 2017, with the announcement of a new collective bargaining agreement.

Outgoing Rugby AU CEO Bill Pulver and RUPA CEO Ross Xenos announced the key details of that on Wednesday.

What are we talking about after the beginning of the new deal?

1. A step up for women's rugby
For the first time the women’s and men’s Sevens will be part of the wider collective bargaining agreement. All Sevens and Super Rugby entry level players will be entitled to the same starting wage, at around $44,000, putting women on the same playing field as men for the first time in rugby. It’s a move that was a priority for both sides of the table, especially after the Sevens’ success in Rio in 2016. The XVs game still has a way to go before reaching the professional realm, with Super W players not set to be paid for playing in the new competition, though their costs will be covered. Wallaroos will, for the first time, receive match payments for their Test appearances, a step towards professionalism.

2. A transition year for Super Rugby

Not much will change for clubs in 2018, but a new $5.5 million salary cap will be introduced for 2019 and 2020. This season will be one of transition, with both RUPA and Rugby AU believing natural attrition will take its course to put all four clubs under the cap in 2019. This will be spread between a larger squad than in the past, with up to 32 Core Super Rugby players, on a minimum $85,000 salary, and then eight-10 wider training squad players, replacing the EPS. Veterans of more than seven years at a Super Rugby club will also have a 15 per cent discount under the salary cap, rewarding players for loyalty.


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Beth Newman Profile
by Beth Newman
Australian rugby has begun 2018 in a more positive way than it left 2017, with the announcement of a new collective bargaining agreement.

Outgoing Rugby AU CEO Bill Pulver and RUPA CEO Ross Xenos announced the key details of that on Wednesday.

What are we talking about after the beginning of the new deal?

1. A step up for women's rugby

The Wallaroos had plenty to celebrate on Tuesday. Photo: Getty Images
The Wallaroos will have match payments for the first time. Photo: Rugby Australia Media
For the first time the women’s and men’s Sevens will be part of the wider collective bargaining agreement. All Sevens and Super Rugby entry level players will be entitled to the same starting wage, at around $44,000, putting women on the same playing field as men for the first time in rugby. It’s a move that was a priority for both sides of the table, especially after the Sevens’ success in Rio in 2016. The XVs game still has a way to go before reaching the professional realm, with Super W players not set to be paid for playing in the new competition, though their costs will be covered. Wallaroos will, for the first time, receive match payments for their Test appearances, a step towards professionalism.

2. A transition year for Super Rugby

Not much will change for clubs in 2018, but a new $5.5 million salary cap will be introduced for 2019 and 2020. This season will be one of transition, with both RUPA and Rugby AU believing natural attrition will take its course to put all four clubs under the cap in 2019. This will be spread between a larger squad than in the past, with up to 32 Core Super Rugby players, on a minimum $85,000 salary, and then eight-10 wider training squad players, replacing the EPS. Veterans of more than seven years at a Super Rugby club will also have a 15 per cent discount under the salary cap, rewarding players for loyalty.


3. More rest for players

All players under the CBA will have a mandated four-week leave period under the new agreement, with an extra 10 days over Christmas. Where in the past Super Rugby players were often given their leave in chunks of two or three days, these will now be scheduled to take place after the Super Rugby season and after the NRC season. All players will also have one day a week of compulsory stand down, giving them time away from rugby. After a year in which player welfare became a hot button issue, work-life balance is certainly a key concern for plenty of people in the game.


Play Video
SHARE SHARE ON FACEBOOK SHARE ON TWITTER SHARE VIA EMAIL
Beth Newman Profile
by Beth Newman
Australian rugby has begun 2018 in a more positive way than it left 2017, with the announcement of a new collective bargaining agreement.

Outgoing Rugby AU CEO Bill Pulver and RUPA CEO Ross Xenos announced the key details of that on Wednesday.

What are we talking about after the beginning of the new deal?

1. A step up for women's rugby

The Wallaroos had plenty to celebrate on Tuesday. Photo: Getty Images
The Wallaroos will have match payments for the first time. Photo: Rugby Australia Media
For the first time the women’s and men’s Sevens will be part of the wider collective bargaining agreement. All Sevens and Super Rugby entry level players will be entitled to the same starting wage, at around $44,000, putting women on the same playing field as men for the first time in rugby. It’s a move that was a priority for both sides of the table, especially after the Sevens’ success in Rio in 2016. The XVs game still has a way to go before reaching the professional realm, with Super W players not set to be paid for playing in the new competition, though their costs will be covered. Wallaroos will, for the first time, receive match payments for their Test appearances, a step towards professionalism.

2. A transition year for Super Rugby

Not much will change for clubs in 2018, but a new $5.5 million salary cap will be introduced for 2019 and 2020. This season will be one of transition, with both RUPA and Rugby AU believing natural attrition will take its course to put all four clubs under the cap in 2019. This will be spread between a larger squad than in the past, with up to 32 Core Super Rugby players, on a minimum $85,000 salary, and then eight-10 wider training squad players, replacing the EPS. Veterans of more than seven years at a Super Rugby club will also have a 15 per cent discount under the salary cap, rewarding players for loyalty.


3. More rest for players

All players under the CBA will have a mandated four-week leave period under the new agreement, with an extra 10 days over Christmas. Where in the past Super Rugby players were often given their leave in chunks of two or three days, these will now be scheduled to take place after the Super Rugby season and after the NRC season. All players will also have one day a week of compulsory stand down, giving them time away from rugby. After a year in which player welfare became a hot button issue, work-life balance is certainly a key concern for plenty of people in the game.


4. 2020 cutoff opens potential for change

The new deal runs until 2020, the end of the current broadcast agreement, which contributes more than half the revenue to the game. This appears a convenient end point from that perspective, but it also could signal some looming change for Super Rugby and the code beyond that time. Though outgoing Rugby AU CEO Bill Pulver was adamant it wasn’t made for that reason, RUPA CEO Ross Xenos, whose organisation has long campaigned for a trans-Tasman model, said it would certainly open the door for more easy change. Whether that means the same Super Rugby structure, a trans-Tasman or domestic model or a conflation of Andrew Forrest’s Indo Pacific Rugby Championship remains to be seen, but whatever it is, being able to cater contracts to that timeline will be critical.

5. NRC future assured in the west.
Though there is no Super Rugby franchise in WA anymore, the state has been guaranteed an NRC presence until 2020. A greater investment of revenue into the community area of the game will also be funneled into that state as much as any other. A commitment of $250,000 from players will filter back into the performance and wellbeing side of the game, money that will be distributed across the country.

From rugby.com.au

[mothy]

Blood boiling again 😐😡

[jargan83]

“Securing this agreement ... provides the certainty and stability to put recent challenges behind us,” Rugby Union Players’ Association president Dean Mumm said on Wednesday.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/rugby/f...dcf796ef087f0e

[mothy]

We as fans have had to shoulder the poor form and small crowds of the entire competition and this has never been expressed by the media.

[pieter blackie]

all bulshit

[Alison]

Farce of the century

[mothy]

5 Talking Points

1. WA fans left with very little.

2. No progress on how to resolve WA being left in the Dark.

3. IPRC talks are on hold for way too long and shows a lot of disrespect for people in WA.

4. Fans are disgruntled across the country.

5. When will Clyne go?

Posted on Rugby.com.au in a rant frame of mind

[Bakkies]

Send your thoughts to RUPA they do reply.

[FingerTips]

2. A transition year for Super Rugby

Not much will change for clubs in 2018, but a new $5.5 million salary cap will be introduced for 2019 and 2020.

and

5 Talking Points

1. WA fans left with very little.
2. No progress on how to resolve WA being left in the Dark.
3. ...

Not much will change for clubs in 2018: apart from the fact that the Western Force has been exterminated and the WA fan base has been left with SFA in 2018.

They really want WA Rugby to disappear off the face of the Earth, don't they?

[Bakkies]

Just gets better the Women's 7s coach has resigned hours after their pay rise.

[Alison]

Yes, yes they do, FingerTips.

[FingerTips]

From a conversation earlier today with a bean-counting friend in Lindfield.
He's tied up with the Subbies, so he's no friend of the ARU/RA.

Apparently, there's a few spread-sheets doing the rounds in Moore Park (some of many) where the ARU bean-counters have tried to model the actual savings in 2018 from culling the Western Force.

They've tabulated the reduction in costs against the losses of revenue.

Cost savings include nib Stadium fees, coaching salaries, admin salaries and overheads, rentals and leases, travel costs and player salaries - savings in player salaries are minimal (and in most models are negative) because of the number of more highly paid Western Force players who have moved to Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra and the roughly 12% increase in SR salaries for 2018. There's actually additional costs, because of the relocation of former Western Force players to the East Coast franchises.
Revenue losses include Western Force memberships, nib gate receipts, hospitality receipts, merchandise sales, sponsorships and grants (excluding grants from the ARU).

According to my Lindfield mate, most of the models have the revenue losses exceeding the cost savings.

Can't imagine those spread-sheets (if they exist) will ever see the light of day outside the Moore Park temple.

[Bakkies]

From a conversation earlier today with a bean-counting friend in Lindfield.
He's tied up with the Subbies, so he's no friend of the ARU/RA.

Apparently, there's a few spread-sheets doing the rounds in Moore Park (some of many) where the ARU bean-counters have tried to model the actual savings in 2018 from culling the Western Force.

They've tabulated the reduction in costs against the losses of revenue.

Cost savings include nib Stadium fees, coaching salaries, admin salaries and overheads, rentals and leases, travel costs and player salaries - savings in player salaries are minimal (and in most models are negative) because of the number of more highly paid Western Force players who have moved to Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra and the roughly 12% increase in SR salaries for 2018. There's actually additional costs, because of the relocation of former Western Force players to the East Coast franchises.
Revenue losses include Western Force memberships, nib gate receipts, hospitality receipts, merchandise sales, sponsorships and grants (excluding grants from the ARU).

According to my Lindfield mate, most of the models have the revenue losses exceeding the cost savings.

Can't imagine those spread-sheets (if they exist) will ever see the light of day outside the Moore Park temple.

Ask ASIC to subpoena them. AliGoneski is already hammering them on Twitter about yesterday's news.

[mothy]

So players are relatively looked after. Now the mission impossible is to see what support they really promised for WA. The stonewalling of WA’s rugby options of Post SR existence and silence about their supposed support to help WA has been deafening. In mean time they have developed a whole state who are not just brewing but boiling with anger and hatred for this inept board. Fans in WA have been dudded, robbed and shown the door told our support is not necessary! In fact it feels as though it is unwanted.

The board stinks of a group of people who did not have the stomach to do the hard yards and settled for a short sightedness option which they royally have messed up anyway.

Their track record has most crying for a spill of the board as trust between the RA custodians of the game and the rugby public is at the lowest it has ever been. Only a fresh start with new faces and sport management intellect can heal this game in Australia which will be forever tarnished by the disgraceful behaviour of the current board.

[Bakkies]

I see little has been said in the media about the salary cap going up in a RWC year when the RA are due from a massive loss with a shortened domestic test schedule.