For NWSL and WNBA players’ unions, collective actions have been key to their successes in wholly different sports
As the WNBA’s biggest stars warmed up for the All-Star Game on 19 July, the message came through loud and clear. All wore shirts reading “Pay Us What You Owe Us,” with the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association (WNBPA) logo prominently displayed below. The visual immediately went viral, drawing attention to the union’s ongoing negotiations with the league for a new collective bargaining agreement.
Had the messaging started and ended with those shirts, it would have been notable, but limited in scope. Instead, a continuing campaign became just one example of the ways the two most prominent women’s players’ unions in the US have worked together to advance their causes.
