FC Barcelona reduced the salaries of all players and staff by 70 percent on Thursday evening. That is against the will of the players, who previously rejected such a proposal.
Due to the corona crisis, Barcelona is missing out on a lot of income. Like many other companies in Spain, the club uses the Temporary Workforce Adjustment Plan (ERTE) legislation.
The ERTE stipulates that employees receive only 30 percent of their salary for up to six months and work fewer hours than stated in their contract. ERTE was also widely used in Spain in the 2008 financial crisis.
‘Barça’ uses the ERTE for all players and staff members of the first team, Barcelona B, the highest youth team, the women’s team, the basketball players, futsal players, handball players, hockey players and rugby players who play for the club. This means that Lionel Messi, Frenkie de Jong, Stefanie van der Gragt and Lieke Martens, among others, will also receive less salary during the corona crisis.
Player council rejected salary cut
Barcelona appealed to the law to reduce the salary because a consultation with the representatives of the players’ group yielded nothing. The players team of the first team (Lionel Messi, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto) did not reach an agreement on this with chairman Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Thursday evening, Bartomeu decided to implement the temporary wage reduction after a video conference with other board members. “This is not actually a pay cut, but a temporary reduction in the number of working hours,” the club said in a statement.
Barcelona also announced that the club will make the stadium and other club facilities available for medical care.
After Italy, Spain is the most affected country in Europe by the corona virus. There are over 50,000 registered infections and more than 4,300 deaths. The country went into lockdown for two weeks on March 14, and the government is expected to extend that period this weekend.
Follow the latest developments around the virus in the sports world in us live blog.
The coronavirus in short
- The coronavirus mainly spreads from person to person via sneezing and cough drops. The chance of becoming infected through surfaces such as door handles is small. This chance decreases if you wash your hands often.
- You can considerably reduce the chance of spreading by keeping at least 1.5 meters away from others.
- An infected person infects two to three others on average. Precautions are necessary to contain this.
- The vast majority of patients have mild (flu-like) complaints.
- Almost all deaths involve the elderly or other vulnerable persons, such as heart, lung or diabetes patients. If everyone complies with the measures, this reduces their risks.
- Read here what precautions you should take.
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