Tierney: Threat of Work Stoppage Was Real
- Updated: March 11, 2015
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Chris Tierney has played in over 150 games, featured at four different positions, and scored in an MLS Cup final. But the situation that confronted him last week was unlike anything he’d ever seen on the pitch.
As MLS Player Union representative for the Revolution, Tierney was at the epicenter of the 11th hour negotiations with the league on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which was reached less than three days before the start of the regular season.
“There were times when it looked, for sure, as though we’re going toward a work stoppage,” Tierney told nesoccertoday.com on Wednesday. “Just being in a room where a majority of players vote to not play anymore – those are serious stakes.”
According to reports, there was at least one moment during the negotiations in which the players were close to striking, putting the start of the regular season in doubt. But according to Tierney, First Kick wasn’t the only thing that was being jeopardized by the negotiations.
“You’re in the room representing a group of guys that have to be willing to put paychecks and their jobs at risk,” Tierney said. “That’s always a difficult position to be in as a representative, and that’s something we all took very seriously.”
The union and league eventually came to a resolution last Wednesday, but not before the sides had concluded a series of lengthy negotiating sessions. The primary topics: free agency and player salaries.
Although the union initially demanded unlimited free agency – which MLS did not grant to its players at the time – they settled upon a limited form of it. Beginning in 2015, players with at least eight years of MLS experience and are at least 28-years-old can sign with the club of their choosing.
Some critics panned the union’s decision to accept that free agency under those conditions, noting that the vast majority of players still remain bound to the restrictions outlined in the previous CBA.
“I think we made some important strides in terms of getting the door open for free agency, and making some improvements in terms of starting salaries,” Tierney said, “and continuing things in the direction that we believe players in this league should go.”
Those starting salaries – which were previously set at $36,500 – nearly doubled to $60,000 under the terms of the new CBA, which will run through the 2019 season.
While Tierney, who spent the bulk of last week in Washington, D.C. at the negotiating table, said that the decision to accept the league’s terms – which, initially, had not offered any form of free agency – was not one that was made lightly.
“A lot went into it,” Tierney said. “It was a good negotiation. I think you saw that both sides walked away feeling like they left something on the table, which is usually a good indication of it being a fair deal for the most part.”
Like any negotiation, Tierney admitted that concessions were necessary from both sides in order to reach a resolution, which not only saved the start of the regular season, but also ensured that the players wouldn’t have to stretch their last paycheck.
“I’m not going to say we got everything in the deal,” Tierney said. “But it was a long and difficult negotiation, and in the end, it was the right decision.”
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