Following the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between WIPA and the WICB on September 18, 2014, the current players on the tour of India had threatened to go on strike on the eve of the first One-day International on October 8, after they disagreed with the new fees structure under the new agreement.
Yesterday the Guardian published WIPA President Wavell Hinds letter to Windies captain Dwayne Bravo in response to his letter dated October 7, 2014. Here's West Indies One-day captain latest response.
Dear Mr Hinds,
Thank you for your letter dated October 8th in response to our letters sent to you between October 3rd to October 8th 2014.Please be advised that all correspondence sent via my e-mail was with the full blessings of the players in India and their input.We must again reiterate that in our view, the positions you have detailed are not in keeping with the stance taken by the players and which we would have expected to be conveyed not only at your meetings with the WICB but in your response of October 8th copied to all players and copied to the media. From a review of the minutes of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on February 1st, 2014 only excerpts of those minutes were quoted or referred to that may have given one impression which the whole extract of a comment or of the minutes would have given clarity. The players here in India believe that the comments referred to should be placed in their whole context and do so now. Additionally, comments attributed to me at the meeting were my personal views then and still remains that way. I will now let the facts speak for themselves.
In your letter you stated, "The minutes of that AGM record your comments expressing 100% support for this initiative and you will be provided with a copy of the resolution authorizing the WIPA Executive to pursue same, which was passed by majority vote of the members present on the floor. The minutes also reflect the only qualification to your support, which was to ask that the current WIPA executive make every effort to ensure that the shortfall in revenue accruing from the reallocation, be made up in other areas of player remuneration."The recorded minutes of the February 1st AGM which you referred to and relied upon in your response to the players do not reflect this.
Extract from minutes:Mr Dwayne Bravo then stated "that he support 100% the proposal but certain conditions must be discussed, one of them being no pay drop for the senior team and the other salary be raised to compensate the loss of sponsorship fee. He agreed that the first class players need the raise and the retainer; he made the point that is was long overdue. He said he hoped the first class understood what WIPA was trying to do and that all players stand together as one. He wanted WIPA to speak to the board on the issue of relocation for the retained players and the pay grade structure being raised."
Mr Hall former CEO of WIPA, Chief Operations Officer of the CPL and Director of WIPA who presented to the player the proposal in response to clarification by Dwayne Bravo of what is being asked by WIPA and the WICB gave the undertaking as stated in the minutes "Mr Hall informed the meeting that more information would be circulated via e-mails to all members of WIPA before any final decision is made".
As indicated above, other members shared their views on the matter as well, Mr Shivnarine Chanderpaul then "raised the question of senior players match fees and whether the proposal would affect their payment; and West Indian players match fees are at the lower end of the scale compared to other test playing cricketers."Mr Wavell Hinds in his capacity as President and CEO WIPA, answered this by saying "all these points will be raised with the WICB and to balance of the loss of sponsorship fee a compromised MUST be reached to EVEN out the difference."
Mr Sarwan stated, " he found that the idea had some merit and that the meeting must be held with players of senior West Indies team to get their views on it".Mr Hinds confirmed that, "one of his considerations is to meet with the two captains Daren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo and have them to be a part of the discussions on the proposals. As well as Christopher Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are included also as they are the most senior West Indian players".
As is evident from the minutes of the AGM, Mr Hinds and Mr Hall promised to provide more information, meet with senior West Indian players, make up the shortfall if the sponsorship were taken away, even out the difference and certain conditions must be discussed one of them being no pay drop and more importantly discuss with the players before any final decision is made.I want to state categorically without fear of contradiction that not one of those promises made by Mr Hall and Mr Hinds were met in relation to me or a number of players whom I have spoken with. I doubt we would have been at this juncture had the information and dialogue as promised were forthcoming. To date, we are yet to see the new purported MOU signed by you.
In your letter to the Players you made reference to a resolution. You stated, "you will be provided with a copy of the resolution authorizing the WIPA Executive to pursue same, which was passed by a majority vote". None of the players who were present at the meeting recall any resolution being passed. In fact we have only through this letter heard any mention of a resolution for the first time. After careful reading of the minutes of the AGM again, it is clear that no resolution was passed. There is no mention whatsoever of such a vote taking place and that is in keeping with what persons attending that meeting have said. These minutes were signed by you to signify the true nature of them.
This therefore raises more serious questions. On whose authority were you and the WIPA representatives acting when they negotiated and signed this new purported MOU with WICB. We have been advised that there are more issues arising from this but will allow our advisors at the appropriate time to advise us accordingly should it get to that stage.In light of the above, it should be no surprise to you that we have lost all confidence in you and the WIPA Board and we reiterate that you are no longer authorize to represent us in any matter whatsoever. This decision has been conveyed to the President and the CEO of the WICB. Please note that we intend to address the other inaccuracies and any misrepresentations in your letter of October 8th 2014. We reserve all rights.
Regards,
Dwayne Bravo on behalf of the West Indies Players.