With any job, it should be expected that all employees are entitled to minimum wage that has been set and mandated by Canadian government. That may sound like an obvious statement, but there is one association that for years has been exempt from this law. The Western Hockey League, a branch of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), since it’s creation has payed players well under minimum wage with the excuse of, “paying players [minimum wage] would bankrupt them.”[i] This claim by the WHL has been refuted by many due to the fact that paying the players minimum wage would cost each association $300,000 dollars a year, and the Portland Winter Hawks last year reported a total income of $5.4 million ($192,000 of it being taxable)[ii], showing that associations do make very large profit. Another reason it is refuted that paying players a fair minimum wage would “bankrupt” WHL associations is the fact that team officers get payed a total of $382,000 per year.[iii] The coaches, although are an important part of the association, aren’t the ones putting themselves in harms way to make sure ownership receives millions of dollars annually.
Taking a stand for the players of the WHL (as well as other branches of the CHL) is Charney Lawyers, who has waged a $180 million law suit against the CHL and its clubs in an attempt to get fair pay for players. Up to this point the WHL has been successful in using an avoiding conflict-handling strategy, but for dealing with this given conflict they will have to adapt a forcing or problem solving conflict- handling method if they want to win the pending court case. This case of distributive bargaining will be no quick process, due to all the intricacies at hand with the case, but in the end, a settlement awarding the players fair pay or at least closer to it will make the process worth it.
As an ex junior hockey player with lots of friend playing in the WHL as well as other major junior leagues, I see a change in pay compensation as more then necessary. These players work 7 days a week having to fit a 72-game schedule (excluding playoffs) into 6-month period. These players get 5 days off for Christmas and 7 other days off for statutory holidays, but other then that these 16-20-year old players are putting their bodies through physical exhaustion everyday just to see all the profit to go to the ownership. This law suit has been a long time coming and I hope that the bargaining leads to a favourable outcome for the players because there is a reason that when players talk to each other they refer to the league as the WHLMM.
[i] Kaufmann, Bill. “Financial records body check WHL clubs’ claims they can’t afford to pay players: class action lawyers.” Calgary Herald. N.p., 09 Feb. 2017. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.
[ii] Kaufmann, Bill. “Financial records body check WHL clubs’ claims they can’t afford to pay players: class action lawyers.” Calgary Herald. N.p., 09 Feb. 2017. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.
[iii] Kaufmann, Bill. “Financial records body check WHL clubs’ claims they can’t afford to pay players: class action lawyers.” Calgary Herald. N.p., 09 Feb. 2017. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.
