LAUREN LIPPERT

It’s no secret that the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) has proved to be the best of women’s soccer. Unfortunately, they are paid significantly less than the men’s team. Five of the biggest names on the USWNT soccer team roster filed a complaint against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), demanding equal pay for equal work or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and calling for an investigation of what they believe to be U.S. Soccer’s discriminatory wage practices.

This complaint was issued just 9 months after the USWNT won the world cup, a feat the men’s team have never accomplished. Even though they are the main six names on the file, Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo, Megan Rapinoe, and Becky Sauerbrunn emphasized they were taking action on behalf of the entire national team.

The filing, citing figures from the USSF’s 2015 financial report, says that despite the women’s team generating nearly $20 million more revenue last year than the U.S. men’s team, the women are paid about a quarter of what the men earn.

“Recently, it has become clear that the Federation has no intention of providing us equal pay for equal work,” Megan Rapinoe said in a news release.

The EEOC will conduct an investigation and determine if its findings will be benefit the U.S. women’s team.

USSF President Sunil Gulati explained that many factors are considered when it comes to player repayment, including the revenue the teams generate.

“We think very highly of the women’s national team and we want to compensate them fairly, and we’ll sit down and work through that with them when all of this settles down,” Gulati said.

Kessler claimed that the state of the negotiations over the CBA created the need for the women to act in hopes of ending what they say is the “discriminatory and unfair treatment” they have endured for years.

“Every single day, we sacrifice just as much as the men. We work just as much,” superstar forward Alex Morgan explained on NBC’s “Today” show.

The on going fight between the USWNT and the United State Soccer Federation head to court where US Soccer is suing the United States women’s national team players’ association after the union’s executive director, Richard Nichols, refused to rule out a players’ strike. He believes that the players can terminate their agreement with the federation at will. The federation disagrees, so they’ve sued the players for anticipatory breach of contract and declaratory relief.

The federation sued the union representing the women’s team, demanding that the CBA remain effective. Due to Rich Nicholas, the executive director of the women’s player union, allegedly terminated the women’s CBA at the end of 2015.

By supposedly getting rid of CBA, Nicholas can file an article, stating that no player shall “authorize, encourage, or engage in any strike, work stoppage, (or) slowdown.” Meaning, Nicholas could use a strike against the federation in negotiations should he choose to use. In an Olympic year, this is a powerful weapon.

Therefor, the heart of the lawsuit is to determine whether or not the CBA has been terminated.

Fans have showed their support by trending the #EqualPayDay where they explain the large gap between men and women pay.  The case itself, is still currently in progress.