Strike action forces Serie A delay

The start of the Serie A season has been delayed after players failed to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.

A new agreement was due to be put in place after the previous one expired at the end of last season but talks again broke down.

The Italian Players’ Union (AIC) president Damiano Tommasi confirmed the news on Friday.

“There will be no Serie A this weekend. We tried right up until the end, but ultimately all the talks were in vain,” he said.

AIC made a last-ditch attempt to ward off the strike on Friday as they proposed a stop-gap solution that would give the parties involved more time to find a permanent solution.

Nevertheless, the proposed bridge-contract based on the agreements reached so far between the different parties, which would expire on June 30 2012, was swiftly rejected by the league’s governing body, Lega Calcio.

The biggest talking point is the so-called article seven about players who are deemed surplus to requirements by their coaches.

AIC insists that those players should be allowed to train with the rest of the squad, while the clubs want that decision left in the hands of the coaches.

The Italian government’s decision to introduce an extra tax on wages over 90 million euros per year has been the other issue that prevented parties from reaching agreement.

The clubs feel that the players must pay the tax, rather than the clubs, while AIC feels the employers are responsible for paying the extra tax.