PFA Statement: Perth Glory stand down notice
March 28, 2020
Professional Footballers Australia (the PFA) has been provided with stand-down notices issued to its members at Perth Glory by owner Tony Sage.

In response, the PFA has served Sage with a letter of demand seeking the players’ immediate reinstatement.

In the event the players are not reinstated, the PFA will initiate legal proceedings against Tony Sage seeking their reinstatement and the imposition of significant fines in excess of $600,000, pursuant to the Fair Work Act.

“The players acknowledge that everybody in Australia is facing a collective challenge as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” PFA Chief Executive John Didulica said.

“In times like this, our community needs leadership and, from the perspective of football, a commitment to collaboratively rebuilding our sport.

“The PFA continues to call for a collective solution to address our game’s challenges, as has been the approach adopted by the AFL and sporting bodies around the world. However, Tony has shown his preference for unilateral, reckless and unlawful action.

“A fortnight ago, it was fine to relocate players to the east coast away from their families and expose them to a global pandemic. Now, when the opportunity arises, it is considered acceptable to stop paying them. These are not the traits of a sport that values its people.

“We are positioned to take the same course of action if any other A-League club owner elects to take this course of action in contravention of both the law and the sports broader needs at this
time.”

http://pfa.net.au/news/pfa-statement-perth-glory-stand-down-notice/

Worst fucking PFA out of all the codes in Australia. Greedy as fuck. 80% of the season is done, take it on the chin so the a-league clubs survive

not only that...it IS legal to stand down employees...just ask teh many hundreds of thousands already stood down.
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/covid-19-australia-stand-down-what-does-it-all-mean

The PFA might like to answer the question as to how their players are any different to the rest of us.

Unique!

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/jobseeker-payment/how-claim

Slightest contact in the queue and Bruno would be on the ground appealing for a pen.

Whoops, forgot about social distancing.  Let me correct that:  Anyone comes with 3.9 metres of him and Bruno will be backing in and heading groundwards.

It's shitty, but it's no less shitty than what is happening to hundreds of thousands (possibly even a million plus) workers around the country. Sage has his moments, but I daresay he's probably consulted his legal team already and the precedent is set, with dozens of other, much larger, organisations doing the same.

I'm not sure there is a whole lot the PFA can do in this situation, and if the reports are true that Sage has cumulatively put $35 million of his own cash into the club over the years to prop up losses, then I can understand his reluctance to lose too much more.

You guys don't have the government paying part of the wage bill of affected businesses?

Presumably this makes them all “free agents” then? 

Nothing has been announced in that regard - just a bunch of Centrelink payments for people who have been suddenly made unemployed.

Problem is even on the best of days centrelink is a shit show, been that way for many years under the current goverment.
There are still claims back in Jan/Feb that still havent been processed, people need money now and are in for a rude shock at how bad centrelink is, backdated money is all well good but it could take months before they get it considering how many people are unemployed now, the waiting game for many. 

Sage- what are you going to do? Strike?

jokes aside

PFA guy is sounding desperate the last few days in different quotes.

This must be extra crap for players who agree to backloaded contracts. Salary cap stuff.

This

ScoMo ruled it out despite the UK, Denmark, etc doing this to ensure employers don't sack people. 

We're not going to get any games in before May 31, so the smart thing for club owners starting to feel the pinch is to stand down their players and save 2 months of wages.
They are going to make big losses in any event.

I got to say I agree with the PFA.

80% of the season has already been completed. Also, Perth Glory has received 90% of all revenue because it has collected all the membership, season passes, advertising and sponsorship revenue.

As a result, it's only fair Perth Glory keep paying the players to at least the end of the programmed season. 

Otherwise, members and season pass holders should ask for a partial refund on their membership and season passes. 

They are trying to avoid last in first out and reducing everyone’s hours.

With the PFA threatening to sue any other club which follows suit, win, lose or draw, the whole A-League loses, regardless of the result.

I have always thought JD is a bit weird.

Is it for the cause or the attention?

Yes, I believe that's what the concept of the business stimulus package is.
I.E, businesses will get those stimulus packages, provided they pay the staff. If they don't pay the staff, they don't get the stimulus packages, but the workers then become eligible for a JobSeeker payment, provided they meet the income tests. Which is a whole other kettle of fish

shouldnt even have the job... fkn chose croatia over us.

You've got the wrong Didulica.

Mariners and Brissy have also just stood down entire playing squads.

Now the government have backstopped employees wages to $750 a week for 6 months ,the players can all be reinstated.

good point

In order to apply for the payments, businesses will need to prove their turnover has dropped by at least 30 per cent. Shouldn't be hard to prove that one. Turnover has dropped 100%.
The job-keeper grant is also only available for employees that have been with the company for over 6 months. This rules out any player who has joined during the Jan transfer window. That means, Tarek Elrich, Carlo Armiento, Vince Lia and Daniel Margush will not receive the support package. Hopefully with the rest of the squad sorted, the club will be able to provide payments to these players anyway.

well....that's weird

Yes, It’s weird someone would automatically think he made that message up and didn’t just cut and paste an sms or pm that he received from a friend.