Barbados Today

In the wake of West Indies’ shambolic Test series performance against Australia, the pay structure impasse that developed last year among some international players, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) appears to have been settled.

In a release today the WICB revealed that the board and the WIPA had agreed on a new Memorandum of Understanding and Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Board said an important part of the new MOU and CBA included creating clear, long-term, stable arrangements for player compensation at all levels.

In its statement the WICB said there seemed to have been confusion, particularly among players, as to the specifics of what had been agreed and how the new compensation structure would operate. The Board blamed this as a major contributory factor to the premature termination of the West Indies Tour to India last October.

The release revealed that last month the WICB and WIPA participated by mutual consent in a formal mediation process over a period of five days to consider the question of what level of sponsorship funds received by the WICB should international players receive and how that amount should be distributed.

“In addition to resolving this issue, the WICB and WIPA were able to reach a greater and more consistent understanding of the MOU and CBA by clarifying the underlying agreed principles of player payments for a period of four years.

“A clear and unambiguous schedule of all types of anticipated player payments during this period has been drawn up and minor amendments to the MOU and CBA [including the standard player contract] to provide for such compensation has been made,” the release stated.

The Board stressed that the solution to the impasse, inclusive of the player payment schedule, was also shared and discussed with the players on the weekend of May 23 and 24 in Barbados, prior to the start of the Australia tour of the West Indies, in order “that the risk of any future dispute is minimised to the greatest extent possible.”

The outcome was achieved with the assistance of an independent panel that included representatives of the International Cricket Council and the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations. The release gave no monetary breakdown of the agreement.