WNBA Players Divided Over CBA Approach at Heated Meeting

The WNBPA held a virtual meeting with its members on Tuesday evening to discuss the state of labor negotiations. The tone quickly became tense as players discussed the best path forward, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the meeting.

One of the causes of disagreement between players, according to multiple sources, is the approach to a potential strike. Players authorized a potential strike in a near-unanimous vote in mid-December, but some players have changed their mind since. 

One source said more than half of player leadership reaffirmed their commitment to striking if necessary. The strike vote authorized the union’s executive committee—made up of seven players and led by president Nneka Ogwumike—to call a strike whenever it felt it was necessary.

A letter sent from WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson to union members and obtained by Front Office Sports verified the tone of Tuesday’s meeting. In it, she wrote, “last night’s conversation was spirited, passionate, and at times tough.” 

Jackson went on to say this signaled the health of their union. 

“Honest debate is not division,” Jackson wrote. “It is engagement.” 

“Everyone has different experiences in the league and in their life,” veteran guard Lexie Brown told FOS. “So I did not expect all of us to come into these meetings, week by week, and just kumbaya and everybody agree on everything. That’s not reality.” 

The WNBA and WNBPA had a virtual bargaining session on Monday, during which the league told players both sides needed to prioritize reaching an agreement by March 10 or be at risk of delays to the season. Additionally, league officials had calls with general managers to lay out a timeline for league business if a deal was reached by the second week of March. 

The league told GMs that if a deal is verbally agreed to on March 10, it would not be signed until March 31, according to multiple sources. In this timeline, the expansion draft would be held between April 1 and 6. Qualifying offers, including core designations, could be sent out on April 7 and 8, followed immediately by a negotiating period from April 9-11. The signing period would begin on the April 12 and extend through the 18th, a day before training camp begins. The college draft would be held on April 13.

The pressure being placed on negotiations by the league has been met with confusion, as the union waited roughly six weeks for a counterproposal to one it submitted in late December. 

Additionally, Jackson made it clear that a CBA would not become final without the vote of members. As was the case for the previous CBA, the union would need the majority of players who vote to be in agreement in order to reach a deal. 

In Jackson’s letter, she told players a survey would be sent in the coming days to gather feedback on the league’s current proposal. The union has used surveys at various points in the negotiations to gauge how players are feeling, one source told FOS. 

“We all want to play,” Brown said. “We all want a fair CBA, but fair looks different to different people. So how do we get to a place where fair looks good to everybody: to the majority, to the minority, to the max players, to the role players, the rookies. How do we get to a place where fair looks the same?” 

The WNBA is waiting on a response from the union to its proposal sent on Feb. 20. In it, they made no movement on its proposed salary cap of $5.65 million per team or revenue-sharing percentage. The only significant change was to team housing, which the league put back on the table for all players, but only in 2026. The league has provided housing to all of its players since 1999. 

Earlier this month, union president Nneka Ogwumike and vice president Alysha Clark told FOS that there were no fractures among the players. 

Instead, they both asserted that tough conversations were happening behind the scenes. 

“There are so many things that are on the table in this proposal, and us having discussions doesn’t equate to fracturing,” Clark said at the time. 

After Tuesday’s meeting, a group of more than 10 agents representing players of varying standing sent their own letter to union leadership, offering to help in whatever way might be necessary to get a deal done.