NHLPA, MLBPA offer support to USWNT in dispute with USA Hockey

On Friday, the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team received support from two powerful sports unions in their battle with USA Hockey over fair wages.

Both the National Hockey League Players’ Association and Major League Baseball Players Association tweeted word of encouragement for the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team as the group continues to threaten a boycott of the upcoming IIHF Women’s World Championships.

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Here is the note from the NHLPA:

And here is the MLBPA’s message:

Last week, the women’s team announced they would boycott the Worlds this year unless “significant progress has been made on the year-long negotiations with USA Hockey over fair wages and equitable support.” Players are looking to get a wage outside of the six-months leading up to the Winter Olympics every four years.

On Monday the two sides held, what was described by forward Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson as, “productive” talks. On Thursday, it was reported USA Hockey had started to look into potential replacements for the tournament, which is scheduled to begin on March 31 for Team USA.

A story by USA Today on Friday said that negotiations “haven’t progressed” since Monday.

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Training camp for the World Championships was set to start on Wednesday, but USA Hockey was forced to cancel it, as well as an exhibition game against Finland on Friday, because they didn’t have a team that could participate.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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