Pivot for Australian netball: Diamonds win fair pay through union action

The Diamonds, Australia’s incredible netball team, have showcased not only their prowess on the court, but also their collective strength off it.

The Australian Netball Players’ Association (ANPA) have secured a fairer pay deal with the sport’s governing body, Netball Australia.

The deal ends an almost 10-week long pay dispute that saw players effectively unemployed coming into the holiday period.

By standing together, the Diamonds are now heading into the Christmas period with much-needed job security, having locked in a new agreement for the next three years.

Striking a deal for fairness

Key elements of the new agreement include:

• Players will receive an immediate 11 per cent pay rise over three years, with back pay to October 1.

• The average potential salary will rise to $89,221 and minimum salaries will rise to $46,600 over the term of the CPA.

• Netball Australia and the players will enter into a landmark sponsorship revenue sharing partnership where players receive 20 per cent of revenue above an agreed sponsorship forecast.

It's time for @NetballAust to do what's best for the game and create a genuine partnership between the players and administrators.

A revenue sharing model is fair, and means that players get a share of the revenue that they help to create. pic.twitter.com/BCta4X0VyG

— Australian Unions (@unionsaustralia) December 1, 2023

Cross-code solidarity in womens’ sport

The Diamonds’ win demonstrates what is possible when players come together and unionise – following in the footsteps of Australian women’s soccer team, the Matildas, who just last month secured a new pay deal that reflects their stunning World Cup success and the rise of women’s soccer in Australia.

Back in 2015, the Matildas went on strike, and despite their growing success at the time, were fighting for pay just barely above minimum wage.

Their collective action worked. Within two months, the sport’s governing bodies struck a new collective bargaining agreement with vastly improved pay conditions for both the top and base contracts for the Matildas.

In 2019 they did it again – securing another landmark CBA that closed the pay gap between the Socceroos and Matildas; a world-first for women’s football.

And in November this year, they took it one step further: building upon the gender equality principles introduced in the 2019 agreement, but embedding them into the contractual framework in a far more sophisticated and context-conscious way, making the 2023 CBA one of the most progressive agreements struck in world football.

It’s not hard to see how the Diamonds are following in the footstep of the Matildas, with Matildas striker, Kyah Simon, expressing her team’s support for the Diamonds, commenting that the Matildas were in a similar position only a few years ago.

The progress the Diamonds and the Matildas have made is a testament to the resilience and unity of their teams and their willingness to act collectively; securing not only fair resolutions but a huge step in the right direction for equality and fairness in other sporting codes.

Every worker benefits from joining their union

You don’t need to be an elite athlete to benefit from union membership. Every worker can join their union and drive positive change.

No matter your industry, joining your union means you’ll always have someone in your corner, and the collective power to make a difference in your workplace.