WICB look to resolve player dispute
The West Indies Cricket Board have responded to a threat by their players to boycott the upcoming series against Bangladesh by saying the door remains open for negotiation.
West Indies Players Association president Dinanath Ramnarine revealed the cricketers would not take part in the month-long series because of an unresolved and long-running contractual dispute with WICB.
With the first Test due to start tomorrow in Kingstown, St Vincent, there is little time available if a resolution is to be brokered.
The WICB took a step toward today when they released a statement revealing they had approached WIPA to attend a meeting tomorrow.
That would, however, seem to be too late to avoid disruption to the first Test and reports in the Caribbean have suggested a second-string team has been flown to St Vincent in case the boycott holds.
“The WICB wishes to state that it has always made itself available to meet with WIPA and continues to do so,” a WICB statement read.
“The negotiating team and its chairman – the WICB vice president, Mr Dave Cameron – are prepared to meet with WIPA in Trinidad on July 9, 2009 to once again attempt to resolve the outstanding issues.”
The WIPA have been in dispute with the WICB for several months over players’ contracts, with Ramnarine revealing that players had appeared for West Indies without contracts for the past four series, a scenario he described as “highly unacceptable”.
The problem reached a head on Saturday night when the players refused to attend an official WICB function ahead of next year’s ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.
That action earned the ire of WICB who said it amounted to a breach of the collective bargaining agreement between themselves and WIPA.
It also intensified speculation the relationship between WICB and WIPA had broken down completely, although the governing body refuted those claims, maintaining both parties are focused on resolving the matter.
“Following the non-appearance of the West Indies cricket team at the Ticket Launch for ICC World T20 West Indies 2010 last Saturday (July 4) evening in St Lucia, there has been much speculation about the state of relations between the WICB and the WIPA,” the statement read.
“The WICB would like to state that it has been engaged in ongoing negotiations with WIPA on a number of matters and therefore the action taken by players on Saturday was extremely ill-advised and premature given the fact that, as far as the board is concerned, negotiations are ongoing with a view towards resolving all matters.”
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