Their move described a sudden escalation of a simmering labor fight, U.S. Soccer sued the union representing the world champion United States women’s national team in federal court over the team’s collective bargaining agreement. According to The New York Times, the national governing body for the sport is seeking to have a court rule that the terms of the agreement — which expired in 2012 but has continued to be the guiding document over the relationship between the federation and the players of the national team — remain valid.
U.S. Soccer seeks no penalties; instead, it asked for “declaratory relief” stating that the players’ union must abide by a slightly modified version of the agreement that is set to expire in December. U.S. Soccer said in the court filing that it “reluctantly” brought the action against the union representing the women’s team after the executive director of the union, Richard Nichols, threatened to repudiate the agreement and its nostrike clause during a meeting in New York.
This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.