PWHLPA President Laura Stacey discussed the now public PWHL salaries, the benefits of transparency, the progress already made, and where the union goes next in advocating for better salaries for players.
The disclosure of PWHL salaries made a lot of people talk last week.
A few players, when asked, have already commented publicly. For the first time however, that list included PWHLPA President, Laura Stacey, who spoke about salary disclosure following the Montreal Victoire’s practice on Tuesday.
“Obviously, I've had a lot of talks about it lately,” Stacey said. “I think ultimately it is amazing for the players that our salaries are public, so that one another can help each other, especially in terms of expansion and signing new contracts and free agency. We voted on that last year for it to be public.”
“With that being said, obviously we voted on it to be public for our eyes and for our agent's eyes only. So, I think that was a bit of a shock for us and not something that we necessarily wanted or the way we wanted it to come out. But with that being said, I think moving forward, it is on us, and I think we will talk about how we can change this, how it can become our voice and our words and our information. So, I think it obviously opens a lot of doors for discussion for us as a players’ union”
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, we want the players to be able to push for more and ask for more, based on what other people are doing around them,” Stacey added.
Asked about why it was kept within a close circle of people, Stacey said that it was just too early in the process.
“Honestly, the reason is because that's what we voted on as a players’ union. We had a vote and it was decided that we wanted it to be public for one another, but for our eyes only. Especially early on in this process,” she said. “I think we just felt it was important for the players, but it wasn't necessarily at the stage that we needed everybody to know what our salaries, what our contracts look like. With that being said, that was because it was year one, two, three of the league. We're growing. Our league is growing. We're now at year three. The buildings are getting sold out. So obviously, I think at some point here we're going to have to come up with a new vote. And obviously it's already out now, or some of it is already out. So that's on us as players now to regroup and say, ‘hey, what do we want now? What's next?’ Because of where we at. So, I think the early decision was, hey, we're early on here in this league. Let's keep this to us as a group who fought for this, and then let's see where we can go from there.”
Not For The Money, But For The Future
Montreal forward Catherine Dubois, who was paid the minimum wage last season, was also asked about the salary disclosure.
“It's important,” she said. “I think there is a transparency to have. There are people who think we make millions. I think maybe it will make people realize that we don't do this for the money. Maybe they will understand a little more about our reality.”
Regarding Dubois’s comment about not doing this for money, Stacey, who spent many years not being paid for playing hockey, had a different feeling about it.
“I think it shows both sides of the coin. Honestly, it's hard for me. I played 10 years and made $0 playing hockey. So, for me now, it's like, this is incredible that we've reached this level, that we're already at a level that people are able to play for a living, where we don't have to have side jobs anymore,” Stacey said.
“With that being said, obviously the reserve situation is different, but there's two sides to that. I think we've reached this ‘wow, this is incredible, we're now playing professional hockey for a living.’ But on the same side of that coin, with the three years and how much we've grown and how far we're getting, it does open some of our eyes to say we got to continue to push for more. We got to keep growing. We got to keep raising the standards of women's hockey because it is working. Arenas are selling out. The growth of this game is incredible. And I think as players, we want to keep that momentum moving forward.”