Taylor not surprised at Sutherland’s pay ultimatum

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Former Australia captain and current Cricket Australia board director Mark Taylor says national players have been talking about going on a pay strike since the start of this year.

The pay dispute between the board and players took a nasty turn on Saturday when an email from Chief Executive James Sutherland was leaked to the press.

In the email, Sutherland said that if the players fail to agree a deal by June 30 they will not be paid.

But the players, who are represented by the Australian Cricketers’ Association, insist they will not be forced into signing anything and Taylor has spoken about the frustration of not securing a deal.

Speaking on Channel Nine, Taylor said: “The board and CA in general have been frustrated by the fact there has been no negotiation. I had players say to me in January of this year ‘we could well be on strike by July’. This is before this MOU was presented.

“I’m not surprised James has done what he’s done.

“Things haven’t been going anywhere for months now, and I know Cricket Australia feel the ACA aren’t negotiating at all.

“CA want to change the MOU, want to get away from the revenue sharing model, although the deal being offered to the players is still revenue sharing to a certain extent.

“No-one’s worse off, women are going to be very well paid in the new model.

“But right from the word go, the ACA – I’m not so sure about the players – have not wanted to engage at all on this deal that’s been offered. It’s all about status quo or the highway, and I don’t think you can negotiate that way.”

Australia Mark Taylor

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