Should The Players Be Allowed To Go On Strike?

I'm not convinced that the players going on strike was justified - I could see this coming a mile away today, we were off the pace and not closing down and a complete embarrassment in front of goal and not training was a huge factor. OK this week has been eventful and yes the players didn't get paid BUT SURELY the priority should have been training for this game which was potentially the most important game of the season. I didn't see Parky going on strike or anyone else for that matter and (even though I'm grinding my teeth when I say this) as Anderson said the players have always been paid albeit a bit late. I think the players need to look at themselves today and wonder where their priorities should be. Gutless performance and wrong priorities. Shame on you.

Well a few days before this match the chairman chastised the players in public.

Couple this with the fact he hasn't paid them, I suspect these motivational tactics that ken is employing haven't worked.

Of course they should be allowed to go on strike. How would you stop them? Its not like what they do is essential for national security. If they haven't been paid why shouldn't they withdraw their labour?
I don't really think that not training on Monday and Tuesday affected their performance. They trained on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and that should get them match fit.
The reason that they lost today wasn't that they weren't fit  -its because they're shite and as almost all of them will be plying their trade elsewhere next season,  why should they give a monkeys.
Plus they haven't been paid!!

rammywhite wrote:Of course they should be allowed to go on strike. How would you stop them? Its not like what they do is essential for national security. If they haven't been paid why shouldn't they withdraw their labour?
I don't really think that not training on Monday and Tuesday affected their performance. They trained on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and that should get them match fit.
The reason that they lost today wasn't that they weren't fit  -its because they're shite and as almost all of them will be plying their trade elsewhere next season,  why should they give a monkeys.
Plus they haven't been paid!!

if they don't give a monkeys then you prove my point - that they should be footballers and be in a team fighting for survival, not fannying around standing up for pay rights when you have the most important game of the season ahead of you.

In this situation Parky should've got the players to one side and demanded they focus on the Ipswich game and not unpaid wages. But that would've taken a manager with authority and we clearly don't have that. This game today could've turned our season around and instead the players were pontificating about staff's wages. Get a grip and be footballers.

I think the lack of wages and the criticism from Kenocchio are the main factors in today's shit show. Missing 2 days training at this stage of the season shouldn't be an issue at this stage of the season.

Players have all the power these days and most of them will still be footballers next season just hopefully not with us.

It's a fundamental right of any worker, footballer or not.

wessy wrote:It's a fundamental right of any worker, footballer or not.

I agree. However their strike was not for themselves, but the people who work for BWFC and had not been paid.  Years ago, it would have been called "coming out in sympathy", for another group of workers in a similar or allied trade.  You can bet that this is what forced Ken to pay, the workforce, unfortunately the players remain unpaid.

How would we notice the difference?  I thought they were on strike all game yesterday.

rogercpc wrote:

wessy wrote:It's a fundamental right of any worker, footballer or not.

I agree. However their strike was not for themselves, but the people who work for BWFC and had not been paid.  Years ago, it would have been called "coming out in sympathy", for another group of workers in a similar or allied trade.  You can bet that this is what forced Ken to pay, the workforce, unfortunately the players remain unpaid.

I'm fairly sure without looking it up that sympathy strikes are illegal these days and probably wiser if the players kept their 'solidarity' to others to themselves and not made public.

Ken had to pay to get the game on (presumably with James's money?) otherwise we were potentially liable to be kicked out of the league for being insolvent.

The players actions probably helped kill off the last chance we had of staying up - I'm not saying that, read Parkinson's comments of how disruptions to the players have effected performance on the pitch over the last several weeks.

Fwiw I would have happily played for Bolton for free if I had been good enough.

Despite whatever financial disruptions the players have (probably junior players excepted) they all are in the fortunate position of knowing they will eventually be paid in full whatever the outcome and no doubt whoever their major creditors (mortgage lender, posh car sales company, etc) would know that too and happily given them a payment holiday in the unlikely event they really needed one.

All they really had to do was play football - a win at home against both Wigan and Ipswich would certainly have kept us in with a good chance of staying up - but instead they had to make their stand instead.

I don't really believe a single one of them puts the club before their money.

I guess that's the way it is these days in football.

I don’t think any serious fan can put the blame for the strike anywhere but Ken’s door.

The players took the action for three reasons - lack of pay of non playing staff, their own lack of pay and (reportedly the most significant) a complete lack of communication on the matter from the board. That final one has been consistent since pre season and you can’t argue, it’s a basic requirement to treat your employees with respect - everyone has that right.

I do find it amazing that the players weren’t up for this game anyway though, despite how Parky positioned it I don’t think the shit performance can only be down to this issue. Everyone should be up for a must win game reagrdless, if they weren’t then the players need to question their own professional pride.

Whilst I understand Frank's frustration, it's a daft question as anybody has the right to withhold their labour. Sure they could get punished if they do so illegally - which i don't think they did anyway - but it's their decision to make as we don't live in a society which endorses slave labour any more. "Allowed" doesn't come into it and any attempt to make them work is unenforceable.

It's a tough one.

I'd like to think if I was in that position, I'd see that pay or no pay, I'm still better off than the paying fans (except Natasha Whittam and a few others) and should just fucking get on with it.

On the other hand, a deal's a deal and people like KA will try anything they can just about get away with.