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West Indies cricketers representing the region in all three formats of the game stand to lose over US$52,000 (TT$330,000) in compensation for the ongoing India series, which represents a startling 64 percent drop in earnings.
Even more eye-raising is the fact that this loss in earnings was agreed to by the cricketers’ union, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), which is headed by former West Indies and Jamaica batsman Wavell Hinds.
(Courtesy WIPA)
In WIPA Annual General Meeting 2014 Minutes in Trinidad on Saturday 1 February 2014, which was leaked to Wired868, WIPA director Michael Hall urged the players to be “agents of change” by giving up daily sponsorship fees.
However, the players’ union did not reveal what their new earnings would be and failed to meet a directive from West Indies’ One Day International (ODI) captain, Dwayne Bravo, that any financial shortfall from the loss of their sponsorship money should be compensated via other revenue streams.
In a letter from the West Indies team, which was signed by Bravo, the players complained about a 75 percent loss in revenue. This only slightly overstated their deficit.
A player representing the West Indies in all formats of the game, according to WIPA documents, would have earned US$83,000 (TT$526,000) from match fees and sponsorship money for the current India series, which comprises of five ODIs, three Tests and one T20 match.
Instead, that player will take home US$30,475 (TT$193,000), which represents a loss of just over US$52,000.
West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Whycliffe “Dave” Cameron and Hinds have said this recouped money will go towards the professionalization through the payment of staff and monthly contracts to 60 players in six territories.
The complete figures suggest that Hinds was being economical with the truth when he revealed the increase in the players’ match fees without showing the loss in sponsorship revenues.
Hinds focused on the fact that match fees rose from US$5,000 (TT$31,600) to US$5,750 (TT$36,300) for Tests. But he did not say the sponsorship money they lost was worth US$13,460 (TT$85,000) for each five day Test match.
Already cricket sources suggest that the financial loss could make Test cricket unviable to players who earn millions in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and might think it irresponsible to risk their health for such a significantly smaller sum.
During WIPA’s last AGM, veteran cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul noted that West Indies was already on the low end of the scale in Test salaries. His assertion, according to the minutes, went unchallenged by WIPA directors.
Hinds claimed the minutes showed that the players give up their sponsorship fees by a “majority vote of the members present on the floor.”
However, Wired868 can confirm that the AGM’s minutes show that no resolution was taken.
(Courtesy WIPA)
Last week, Hinds was contradictory in his defence of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)/Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
In his letter to the players, which was published on Wired868, Hinds claimed that Bravo expressed “100% support for this initiative.” However, in the next paragraph, he conceded that this support was conditional: “The minutes also reflect the only qualification to your support, which was to ask that the current WIPA executive make every effort to ensure that the shortfall in revenue accruing from the reallocation, be made up in other areas of player remuneration.”
And Hinds went on to concede that WIPA did not meet Bravo’s conditions: “While I am willing to concede that best practices may not have been observed by not sharing the document with any but a small group of our members…”
Bravo’s response to WIPA’s suggestion that the players concede their sponsorship fees was recorded in the minutes as:
“Mr. Dwayne Bravo then stated the he support 100% the proposal but certain conditions must be discussed, one of them being no pay drop for the senior team and that the other being salary be raised to compensate the loss of the sponsorship fee.
“He agreed that first class players need the raise and the retainer; he made the point that it was long overdue. He said he hoped the first class (cricketers) understood what WIPA was trying to do and that all players stand together as one. He wanted WIPA to speak to the board on the issue of relocation for the WICB retained players and the pay grade structure being raised.”
(Copyright AFP 2014/Lakruwan Wanniarachchi)
The West Indies’ players are arguing that WIPA did not have a mandate to sign the CBA/MOU on their behalf and are asking the WICB to revert to their old agreement until a new one can be negotiated in good faith.
At present, Cameron’s body will pay a total of US$395,900 ($TT2.5 million) to the cricketers for the India series. Under the old agreement, the WICB would have paid US$683,581 (TT$4.3 million) more or a total of US$1,079,481 (TT$6.8 million).
Thus far, the regional cricket board has not responded to the players’ request or suggested it willingness to concede the additional US$683,581 to the players.
Hinds denied an accusation from the West Indies cricketers that conflicts of interest between WIPA directors and the WICB led to their inadequate representation of the players.
West Indies players versus West Indies Players Association in numbers
US$5,750 (TT$36,300) = What cricketers will earn per Test under WIPA’s new agreement;
US$18,460 (TT$116,600) = What WI cricketers earned per Test under the old WIPA agreement;
US$683,581 (TT$4.3 million) = What the WICB will take from its players for this series; and what the cricketers want to recover.
Editor’s Note: The figure the West Indies players will be paid for this series was modified to reflect five ODIs rather than four as initially stated.
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This is an emotional topic. But then that is a good sign because West Indies cricket is supposed to matter to all of us. We just have to try not to sink to personal attacks and stay on topic.
After a few days of letter writing back and forth, I tried to do something a bit more than an information dump. My time is constrained between covering SSFL, Pro League and the national senior men’s and women’s teams.
Of course, cricket fans should expect a full and honest picture from me regardless; so that is no excuse. But I’m trying my best for cricket under the circumstances.
Larry Romany, I think Tino Best’s comments are understandable, particularly from a player who recognises that he has no chance of getting back on the West Indies team. The new deal suits him. Naturally he doesn’t see that as being short-sighted either.
If the West Indies cricket team is the main money earner, it will deserve a bigger slice of the pie. If WIPA and the WICB kill the cow, everyone suffers in the long run including the regional cricketers.
But i thought my opinion of you doesnt matter? Contradicting yourself….but as with negotiations timing is key, Mr Gerard Emile Zatopek Pinard, doh rush the brush! Foreplay is necessary
Have a great day, negotiator extraordinaire…..try to top the WICB and strive to cut somebody’s salary by 75% today
But one last thing eh, Mark Pouchet, ah still waiting’ to hear bout all dat cocoa in de sun dat yuh say ah have eh…yuh go get back to mih on dat soon, right?
Lawd, Mark Pouchet, what an original comeback! Anyhow, play time is over and I have real work to do, so run along and be a good journalist, OK? Have a great day!
Somebody is very sensitive….but the substantive point was that you are entitled to your opinion, so you need to grow up or grow a pair
Mark Pouchet, why do you not ask GHL for its opinion on that if it bothers you so much? Or, better yet, ask the current CEO (or any of the CEOs that I have worked with) for his opinion of me since it seems you have a personal interest? Or, better yet, find out how the case between us was settled and who paid who how much. It might change your opinion about my negotiating abilities.
But seriously, is any of that your business? Grow up nah!
Having read the article with Tino Best, it is clear that the WICB has played a numbers game here where they have taken money from the minority (senior team) and diverted it to the majority (elite Caribbean players) in the name of player development while at the same time, creating dissension among the “ranks”. Very clever move. WIPA would be between a rock and a hard place since the majority of their members would agree to this change. “Only a very small percentage of their membership end up in the senior team so why should they get the lion share”. I could see them thinking like this. WICB have been trying to get the regional players to think like this for a long time. Maybe WICB should do like Australian Cricket and place the responsibility for elite player development in the hands of the Union.
I guess GHL wasnt one of the clients who thought they were represented to the best of that person’s ability ….,i have never attempted and will never attempt to stifle your or anyone’s commment….. …..you are very opinionated and your opinion is your prerogative
Mark Pouchet, I am indeed biased, against injustice and dishonesty! It certainly does not help your case to attempt to continue to spread misinformation, whether about me personally or otherwise, in an attempt to achieve whatever agenda you might have.
At no time have I suggested that the players ought not to fight for their rights if they believe them to have been breached in any way, so what is the relevance of that point? You seem to be scattering….
Try to understand that I am entitled to express my opinion on this and any other matter, whether you or anyone else agrees with me. As a journalist, I would expect you of all persons at least to understand that.
But then, we all know that my expectations must be unreasonably high don’t we?
Larry Romany, i am cool.
Mark Pouchet keep your cool……easy….easy
But Gerard Emile Zatopek Pinard, say a man is employed by Guardian Holdings Limited and he gets fired , then he sues that company because he figures his firing was wrong or he feels he has been wronged or his rights breached, do you see anything wrong with that? Isn’t that a case of a man fighting for his rights? Aren’t the players entitled to fight for their rights if they figure their rights have been infringed?
Well, am reading both sides here…if the WICB is so committed to the best interest of WI cricket, then they really aren’t doing so well eh
You are biased , and you should just state that , as for my opinion of you, I agree it should not matter as yours of me is of zero consequence
I should also point out that my main role during my stint with the WICB was as a member of its Negotiating Team for the new CBA/MOU and again my client would be best placed to pronounce on the effectiveness of my role in that regard. As to any personal biases that I might have in the matter, the main one is that I am committed to what is best for West Indies Cricket, simple as that! We may disagree on what that is, but at the very least we ought to be truthful.
Mark Pouchet, as a journalist I expect that at the very least you would be truthful in your comments.
I am quite certain that you are fully aware that your statement about me being “part of the negotiating team that lost several arbitrations to WIPA” is simply NOT TRUE. I am certain that as a journalist covering West Indies Cricket you would be aware that I represented WICB in exactly ONE arbitration matter in Barbados back in 2009 and that matter was settled by mutual agreement between the parties. I am certain that you are aware that I NEVER represented WICB in any other arbitration matter and that the attorneys handled such matters.
I was of course very much a part (as the WICB appointed Facilitator) of the CARICOM led Mediation that was handled by Sir Shridath Ramphal, again back in 2009, but I’m sure that as a journalist you would appreciate the difference between Arbitration and Mediation, right?
It leaves me to wonder, then, what would be your motive to deliberately attempt to mislead readers on the matter of my involvement back then (I say “deliberately” because I do not for one second believe that it could have been in error, since you are after all a competent and experienced journalist, right?)
As to your opinion that I was “in the employ of the WICB for a very unsuccesful stint…and (I) have a lot of cocoa in the sun”, please feel free to elaborate so that we will all know whether your opinion holds water or whether you continue to dig a hole for yourself in terms of your own journalistic reputation. I pride myself in ensuring that I represent ALL my clients (among which are trade unions and individual workers, mind you) with integrity and to the best of my ability and, in that regard, I’m sure you will appreciate that I am more concerned about their opinion as regards my success or otherwise than I am about yours.
So far, thank God, I have been able to earn a decent living based on satisfying those clients. But I’m always willing to take on board any constructive criticism, even from folks like yourself. The only caveat though is that you should speak the truth, not unreasonable, is it?
Gerard Emile Zatopek Pinard thinks this unreasonable
Exactly, Deryck Richardson
Lasana Liburd this is a very informative article. It is astounding that this could have been agreed to by the bargaining representative……….astounding!!!
I read that Bravo agreed that the regional players should prosper also but that the shortfall in the expected revenue should be compensated by other revenue streams , fair to me. If i have 100 dollars and you ask me to give up 52 dollars and i say to you , i will agree depending on a proviso and you go ahead and take my 52 dollars without the proviso, how can i be pleased ? means i have agreed to a pay cut when i did not . No worker rep worth his salt will give up 52% for what the WICB and WIPA agreed to , at least not without proper consultation
Tony, the tenor of the relationship betwee the WICB and the WIPA has been characterised by a colonial mindset of those in authority talking down to their employees. Some people, including at least one here, figures that should continue. Times have changed. Players have rights and have a right to defend those rights just as the WICB has a right to defend theirs.
Lasana – I’ve been following this story since I was at the WICB. I know it sounds cryptic but I knew that Wavell was ambitious and was going to take the job as soon as his cricket career ended. I also predicted that Dave, despite everything, would become President. It didn’t require much to know that WIPA would die because despite my own battles with Dinas, he ate, dreamt, breathed, sweated and turned night into day for WIPA and the players. You could not buy Dinas.
Gerard Emile Zatopek Pinard, you have a demonstrated bias. You were part of the negotiating team that lost several arbitrations to WIPA because of your inability or incompetence to negotiate. So don’t pretend as if you are neutral or independent . You are not. You were in the employ of the WICB for a very unsuccesful stint…and you have a lot of cocoa in the sun.
Personal, Mark Pouchet? Not at all, my friend, I’m just disappointed when those who should be getting the full story to the public continue to fall short of my expectations, that’s all. Dotish questions like “are workers supposed to take any shit they get from employers?” point to an inherent bias in ones mindset that may cloud judgment on the issue, at least in my opinion. Perhaps I should simply lower my expectations and all will be well, but I would rather not. There is so much more to this story that is not being told, whether deliberately or out of plain laziness and incompetence. Look…not my circus, not my monkeys nah, let the dotishness continue….
And your attempts at getting personal are quite unnecessary and puerile
We will see, won’t we?
I am not missing any point but you definitely are
Mark Pouchet, not surprisingly, you continue to miss the point. As I said, the Image Rights payment has been long disputed and it was only a matter of time before it was addressed. Also, I think your focus is somewhat blinkered – WIPA is the bargaining representative for ALL cricketers in the West Indies, not only those selected to the Senior squad, and therefore must negotiate the best agreement for all of its membership. While I admit that from reports Hinds seems to have been short in his communication with the senior players since the AGM that gave him his mandate, I suspect that WIPA and WICB both believe that the eventual CBA/MOU is in the best long term interest of West Indies Cricket. Unfortunately, this objective does not seem to be in sync with the thinking of some like yourself who perhaps would prefer that the status quo remained where that is concerned. As I keep saying, we will soon see how WIPA’s wider membership feels about the deal and, if they do not agree with it, Hinds and the current WIPA executive will no doubt be removed. Sometimes one has to ask oneself whether one is missing something when one starts off with a preconceived notion about the motives of others and needs to force fit every event to suit. Perhaps, just perhaps, the current WICB Board and WIPA Executive are both in sync as regards the future of our cricket.
If you are my union representative and you negotiate for me and come out and tell me i lose 64 % of my income, you would be fired forthwith and that would make you the worst negotiator ever…surely Gerard Emile Zatopek Pinard you could empathise with that…or are workers supposed to take any shit they get from employers?
I love when people get caught out and divert arguments
Ye that specific imagine rights dispute definitely slipped by me, in the midst of all various battles WIPA/WICB had back in the days.
Gerard Emile Zatopek Pinard Agreed WI can’t compete with IND market/IPL, but this is the eternal problem with cricket. India is too damn powerful, ICC’s failure to evolve to a proper global governing body – means India is growth in cricket is dangerous to the game future
I guess we will see….
Gerard Emile Zatopek Pinard, I was indeed unaware of the battle for image rights. But I haven’t seen anything to suggest that the WICB was legally on the right side of that argument. It was WIPA handing it over rather than a court order.
Still, that doesn’t seem to negate the fact that Bravo asked for the shortfall to be made up in other ways and WIPA did not address this. And WIPA has admitted itself to making a decision that will have a major impact on the players’ livelihood without discussing it with them first.
How can the union possibly win that one, regardless of the perceived merits of their actions?
Even a proposed joint effort to arbitrate on the Image Rights issue by ICC and FICA, the world governing bodies of the Boards and Players, respectively, was rejected by WIPA.
http://m.espncricinfo.com/westindies/content/story/473721.html Deja vu….
Savitri Maharaj, even if the WICB were to “pay up” as you suggest, it would not stop the players from choosing the IPL over West Indies duties, as we have seem for the past several years. The reality is that we cannot compete with the Indian financial market for cricket given our relatively small size, in fact no country can.
The WICB has always maintained (quite rightly in my view) that any purported value of the players’ image rights ought never to be solely deemed to the players’ own given the role of the Board and the Territorial Boards in developing that value in the first place, coupled with the fact that the value is at least in part due to their status as “West Indies Players”. This issue has been very well ventilated over the past several years, as any cricket journalist ought to know, whether or not you accept either party’s position.
Mark Pouchet, like you and Lasana Liburd want me to be an investigative journalist…surely you know that the $35,000 per day payment for use of the players’ image rights has always been contested by the WICB – in fact, it was subject to a court dispute at one time and has now apparently been resolved via a negotiated settlement between WIPA and the Board. It is certainly a fallacy to suggest that the players somehow “lost” the amounts that are being cited when they were always in dispute.
That’s a lot of money rhere and is either we lose them to IPL or pay up
exactly, this isn’t cricket just distractions from the game (big steups)
Gerard Emile Zatopek Pinard, *crickets*
In any language a ‘SELLOUT’ there is no doubt that Hinds must go but who among the Cricketing fraternity is willing and ready to take on the responsibility of leadership, first to remove Hinds and then to carry WIPA forward?
Good digging L, well geez unless there is a smoking gun somewhere then indeed Wavell is indeed in the wrong here.
Also another interesting observation from the WIPA minutes:
“Mr. Hall then asked if anyone knew of the “Big 3” proposal developed by
the ICC, he informed the meeting that the WICB will be supporting the
proposal because the for the WICB over the next 8 year rights cycle they
would be receiving twice as much revenue from the ICC from the previous eight years.”
That is not entirely true based on my research. Many of major cricket journalist in the world have criticized the “big 3” takeover as a pathethic money grab for one.That increase in the next 8 years predicted by WICB is heavily dependent on WI playing AUS/IND/ENG a lot.
That depends on WI starting to perform on the cricket field & the actual goodwill of AUS/IND/ENG “wanting to play” WI.
It’s a miracle this bunch even has sponsorship money to share.
Editor’s Note: The figure the West Indies players will be paid for this series was modified to reflect five ODIs rather than four as initially stated.
If this is accurate, then Hinds’ slip is showing. He might need a cover, an extra-cover or perhaps even a third man (Cameron?) to bail him out here.
Just not cricket.
Tisk tisk
In Hinds response letter, his attitude towards the action taken by the players was one of arrogance pointing more towards what the last administration did in an attempt to make their ills seem the lesser of the two evils…