US Soccer: "Our Proposal for Equal Pay for Women & Men"

Keepermom2 said:
I am sure Coke, Visa, and Nike among others helped US soccer with that decision. I am not sure that just blaming the President and his resignation will be enough to correct this PR nightmare.
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I suspect he would still be employed if it weren't for the sponsors' involvement. I don't think he would have come to the conclusion that he was a idiot without their assistance.

I would hope that a savvy leader could mitigate the PR damage, but the old guard isn't going to get it done.
 
MWN said:
@watfly & @Dos Equis,

We need to remember that these statements were made in "Opposition" to a Summary Judgment Motion filed by the players. The role of counsel in litigation is to preserve their clients rights by contesting all of the items, unless instructed not too. When the players filed their motion for Summary Judgment they claimed all of the elements of to allow judgment in their favor where met. US Soccer was then required to oppose the motion claiming the elements were not met. Both the Players and US Soccer have summary judgement motions pending.

In this instance, the Motion by the women was filed on 2/20/2020 and the response was due a few weeks later (9th of March). Counsel had less than 3 weeks to research and formulate a response to the motion. The draft of the response was probably only finished on the 4th or 5th of March and US Soccer likely had very little time to review and/or change anything if they could. There simply was not weeks to sit on this response and have upper management and the PR people debate squat.

Element 2 requires Plaintiffs (USWNT establish they are paid less “for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions”). US Soccer's ultimate position is that by law the focus is on "job requirements" and to this end because there are far fewer Women's National Teams and many more Men's National Team its harder for the USMNT to meet the job requirements. "The point is that the job of MNT player (competing against senior men’s national teams) requires a higher level of skill based on speed and strength than does the job of WNT player (competing against senior women’s national teams)" (Opposition p.12:16-19).

Absent US Soccer expressly advising the lawyers to concede a critical element (namely element (2) of the EPA statute (29 USC 206(d)). The lawyers did what they should have done and the fact that some lawyers litigating and contesting every point doesn't mean those points are how US Soccer really feels.
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I agree with you, the lawyers have a responsibility to present to management all possible defenses. But management has the responsibility to understand the consequences of each strategy/argument. This is not the lawyer's fault.

To not understand how their counter argument would be viewed by the women, and the general public, is unacceptable. Conceding the jobs are the same (element 2), or finding another way to argue the jobs are different (without claiming/implying women are inferior), are the only common sense options. The legal option they choose was unconscionable.

Carlos is out. That is a good first step. But it is not enough.
 
outside! said:
USSF still has the same board, so the power structure really has not changed all that much.
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Some of the changes under Carlos was to add a GM and transfer much of the decision making to the Executive Team, a departure from the previous President. The executive staff (Remedi, Wahlke, Buethe, Raina, Wallach, and Stewart) hold most of the real power. See, https://www.ussoccer.com/governance/board-of-directors/about

Remember, all of the Board members are volunteers (including the President (Cordeiro now Cone). The Board essentially rubber stamps the recommendations of the Executive team.

Having attended the last AGM (Nashville) and the Feb 2020 US Soccer board meeting, reviewed the 2019 minutes, and had multiple conversations with leaders of the various councils and board members, I can personally tell you there is a tremendous amount of misconceptions related to US Soccer. At its core, you have some very intelligent people serving on the Board with a passion for growing the game. They are all volunteers and spend significant time looking at the bigger picture. US Soccer is not the same type of non-profit that your local club operates. The employees and officers do almost all of the heavy lifting.

But make absolutely no mistake. Because the Player's Council enjoys weighted votes and consistently votes as a unified bloc, the Player's council and the Pro Council members ultimately run the show. Nobody is elected to the President or Vice President position without the Player's council stamp. In fact, this year Cindy Cone was challenged by John Motta for VP. Cone didn't campaign and won by a landslide because she knew the Adult and Youth Council would be all over the board with their votes, and the Athletes and Pro Council would vote as a unified bloc.
 
MWN said:
Some of the changes under Carlos was to add a GM and transfer much of the decision making to the Executive Team, a departure from the previous President. The executive staff (Remedi, Wahlke, Buethe, Raina, Wallach, and Stewart) hold most of the real power. See, https://www.ussoccer.com/governance/board-of-directors/about

Remember, all of the Board members are volunteers (including the President (Cordeiro now Cone). The Board essentially rubber stamps the recommendations of the Executive team.

Having attended the last AGM (Nashville) and the Feb 2020 US Soccer board meeting, reviewed the 2019 minutes, and had multiple conversations with leaders of the various councils and board members, I can personally tell you there is a tremendous amount of misconceptions related to US Soccer. At its core, you have some very intelligent people serving on the Board with a passion for growing the game. They are all volunteers and spend significant time looking at the bigger picture. US Soccer is not the same type of non-profit that your local club operates. The employees and officers do almost all of the heavy lifting.

But make absolutely no mistake. Because the Player's Council enjoys weighted votes and consistently votes as a unified bloc, the Player's council and the Pro Council members ultimately run the show. Nobody is elected to the President or Vice President position without the Player's council stamp. In fact, this year Cindy Cone was challenged by John Motta for VP. Cone didn't campaign and won by a landslide because she knew the Adult and Youth Council would be all over the board with their votes, and the Athletes and Pro Council would vote as a unified bloc.
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I don't doubt any of this. I'm sure there are some very intelligent and soccer passionate people involved with US Soccer. Unfortunately, I have to judge US Soccer by the actual decisions it makes. Give it credit for the VW deal and getting the World Cup. However, these have been overwhelmed by a litany of poor to horrendous decisions made by US Soccer in the last few years (not all under Cordeiro). Despite some of my hyperbole regarding stupidity, I think the incompetence is really being driven by arrogance. Based upon my experience, US Soccer needs a culture change at minimum and possibly a full reorganization.

As far as the pay equity issue goes, US Soccer has some very valid defenses to the WNT's claims (particularly the guaranteed pay issue). However, they have to tread carefully PR wise. The Court of Public Opinion is very important in this matter. They have to look at this issue with a much broader view than just a legal standpoint.

On the flipside, the WNT can't just rely on the Court of Public Opinion and have to be realistic about the facts that aren't in their favor. MWN, many of which you have pointed out in very good detail.
 
Yeah...In reviewing the make up of the Board, I noted only the independent directors had the background that could have foreseen the backlash and the need to review what was going to become a public document. My experience with independent directors of nonprofits is they are window dressing for the organization and the director. Their input is generally limited to a meeting one time a year. Maybe it is different at US Soccer. I am pretty certain EY will leave off their volunteering for US Soccer from their proposals for now.

I am guessing that the sponsors that met with US Soccer laid some ultimatums on the table including the requirement for a plan as to how they are going to fix this situation. I believe that plan will include settlement with the women in the very near future. I don't see how they continue to fight with fervor and come out of this situation without huge backlash including loss of sponsors that pay US Soccer more than the woman are asking for.
 
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Who here noticed that the protesting USWNT wore there jerseys inside out dissing the US but had perfectly reversed NIKE logos on the inside of their jerseys? Who has a Nike jersey where you can see the logo through the screen print of their jerseys on the inside? This has been planned and "F" Nike. I have not bought a Nike product in over a year and will never do so again!
 
pulguita said:
Who here noticed that the protesting USWNT wore there jerseys inside out dissing the US but had perfectly reversed NIKE logos on the inside of their jerseys? Who has a Nike jersey where you can see the logo through the screen print of their jerseys on the inside? This has been planned and "F" Nike. I have not bought a Nike product in over a year and will never do so again!
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The Nike logo is embroidered, so it shows up on both sides.

And it was their warmups, not their game jerseys.
 
pulguita said:
Thank you for correcting me with the embroidery. Nike can still KMA along with the WNT.
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Nike thanks you for the free publicity. As they knew with Kaepernick, every douche who whines about equality and opposes Nike’s support of civil rights only helps generate more sales. So keep up the good work.
 
EOTL said:
Nike thanks you for the free publicity. As they knew with Kaepernick, every douche who whines about equality and opposes Nike’s support of civil rights only helps generate more sales. So keep up the good work.
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Nope don't need to resort to social media to give Nike any free pub. It's the old fashioned Breck commercial way - he told 2 friends and they told 2 friends and so on and so on.........
 
pulguita said:
Nope don't need to resort to social media to give Nike any free pub. It's the old fashioned Breck commercial way - he told 2 friends and they told 2 friends and so on and so on.........
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The guy who put the "repeat" in "lather - rinse - repeat" retired wealthy.
 
pulguita said:
Nope don't need to resort to social media to give Nike any free pub. It's the old fashioned Breck commercial way - he told 2 friends and they told 2 friends and so on and so on.........
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Uh, Breck controlled 20% of the shampoo market when it came up with this slogan. Now it is only sold by Dollar Tree.
 
EOTL said:
Uh, Breck controlled 20% of the shampoo market when it came up with this slogan. Now it is only sold by Dollar Tree.
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Is it me or does Dollar Tree and Big Lot's have a funky smell when you walk in. Though I scored on TP at the Big Lot's in Hermosa Beach.
 
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LASTMAN14 said:
Is it me or does Dollar Tree and Big Lot's have a funky smell when you walk in. Though I scored on TP at the Big Lot's in Hermosa Beach.
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I can’t say I’ve ever been to one, but if they’ve got TP, that will definitely change.
 
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