Sport

Nervous Mungoes Flock to Alliance

By Peter Lewis

Players in the National Rugby League are signing up with the trade union movement, amidst concerns that the high-paying days of the Super League War may be over.

The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance's professional sports branch has been actively recruiting this season and expect to reach 90 per cent coverage by the end of the year.

MEAA's Peter Moscatt, a former first grade League player (for trivia buffs, he played in the Roosters 1972 Premiership side), attributes the recruitment success to fears of the future and a strong delegate structure.

Following the unifiaction of the MEAA with Peter Allen's Player's Association, the union has been able to present a united front to the NRL, whereas previous years the representation was fragmented.

The union's recruitment has been centred around getting senior players to be union delegates and encourage younger players to join as well. Delegates include: Ivan Cleary (Easts), Sean Garlick (Souths), Darren Senter (Balmain), Billy Moore (Norths), Glen Lazarus (Melbourne) and Steve Carter (Penrith).

While most players have agents to negotiate salary contracts, there is increasing concern about player conditions in a climate which sees a falling number of clubs and players.

Currently, players must accept a standard form contract as part of the conditions of registering to play in the NRL. This gives the NRL the right to impose fines and leaves workers without protection if they are unable to play because of injury.

"There has been no agreement to this standard form contract," says Moscatt. "Most members have accepted this under duress; they can't play if they don't sign the contract."

"We're facing a system that has more in common with serfdom than with an employer-employee relationship -- there is no notion of human resources in the NRL."

Moscatt says the big money that flooded the market during the battle for control of the game in the mid-90s is drying up and the number of players on big six-figure salaries is plummetting.

Moreover, the cuts to the number of clubs and the abolition of the lower grade competitions has cut the number of players in the League from 800 to just over 300 players.

Moscatt says that, despite the big salaries, players in the 1970s had a better deal -- "The money was good, but we also had the chance to work as well as play; so we were developing a separate career. Now all the players' eggs are in the one basket."

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  Issue 10 contents

»	Vizard Offers Unions Cheap Computers, But Is It a Pup?
»	Y2K Crashes Bank Holidays
»	Carr Says Thank You To Union Movement
»	Crew Saved by Message in a Bottle
»	Unions to take on Qantas Over Foreign Jobs
»	No Training on Coat-Hanger Sparks Job Fears
»	Council's Hypocrisy Sparks Green Ban Call
»	Shoddy Editor Sparks May Day Confusion
»	STOP PRESS: Employers Bid to Scrap ANZAC Day Fails. For Now

»	Guest Report
»	Sport
»	Trades Hall
»	Piers Watch

»	Not So Wild About Bragg
»	Faction Talk Must Be Broader
»	A Bouquet from the Bush
»	Help a Student Pass!

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