Kerala CM and team leave for US, Cuba
Tour takes place amid vociferous criticism from opposition parties
The United States women’s national soccer team (USWNT) on Friday filed an appeal against the decision spelled out last week by a US court to dismiss their lawsuit demanding equal pay.
In a 32-page ruling, Judge Gary Klausner of the US District Court for Central California in Los Angeles had not paid heed to the women’s team’s claims of pay discrimination by arguing that their allegations were insufficient to warrant a trial.
Klausner dismissed the case on the back of the evidence which stated that the women had previously turned down an offer in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations to be paid along the riskier lines of the pay-to-play structure of the US men’s team.
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“The argument that women gave up a right to equal pay by accepting the best collective bargaining agreement possible in response to the Federation’s refusal to put equal pay on the table is not a legitimate reason for continuing to discriminate against them,” said USWNT spokesperson Molly Levinson on Friday night as quoted by PTI via AFP.
Levinson listed a series of grievances in the motion to appeal which was filed in a federal district court in California and is a part of a larger lawsuit for equal pay. She also said the women are being discriminated against because they are not getting as much as the men on a per-game basis and that making “close to the same amount” is not valid.”
“Equal pay means paying women players the same rate for winning a game as men get paid,” Levinson said. “The argument that maternity leave is some sort of substitute for paying women players the same rate for winning as men is not valid, nor fair, nor equal.
“Today, we are filing a motion to allow us to appeal immediately the district court’s decision so that the Ninth Circuit will be able to review these claims.”
The argument that women are paid enough if they make close to the same amount as men while winning more than twice as often is not equal pay,” she added.
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