The US's biggest pro women's sports unions have found strength together
As the WNBA’s biggest stars warmed up for the All-Star Game on 19 July, the message came through loud and clear. All wore shirts reading “Pay Us What You Owe Us,” with the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association (WNBPA) logo prominently displayed below. The visual immediately went viral, drawing attention to the union’s ongoing negotiations with the league for a new collective bargaining agreement.
Had the messaging started and ended with those shirts, it would have been notable, but limited in scope. Instead, a continuing campaign became just one example of the ways the two most prominent women’s players’ unions in the US have worked together to advance their causes.
“When you’re fighting for something historic, something that has never been done before, it cannot happen in a vacuum,” said Erin D Drake, the WNBPA’s senior advisor and legal counsel who was credited for the shirt campaign, which sought to get as many other people and organizations involved as possible.
To that end, the shirts were made available to buy online by the end of the All-Star Game, and soon the WNBPA’s soccer counterparts were customers.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/oct/08/wnba-nwsl-unions-collective-action