By Robbie Butler
Most labour markets have many employers competing for workers. Football, baseball and rugby are all great examples of this, as are many other team sports. This competition pushes wages toward what those players are actually worth.
In Ireland, inter-county GAA doesn't look like that. There is, in effect, one "buyer" of inter-county playing services. Except for a limited number of Gaelic football players moving to play in Australia, players can't transfer their skills to a rival league or team paying more, the way a professional footballer could. Those playing hurling have no route to Australia at all. This scenario is close to a textbook example of a monopsony: a single dominant buyer (the GAA) facing many sellers (the players). And the standard result of monopsony power is that "compensation" gets pushed below what a competitive market would offer.
While there is no pay in GAA, there is a form of funding through which players are compensated: a grant scheme, run through Sport Ireland in partnership with the GAA. This is required because the GAA remains an amateur association. The commitment required of players, however, is enormous, and they are effectively "professional" in all but name. That's exactly where a union earns its keep. A monopsony buyer, left alone, sets "pay" low. A union, acting as the single seller of labour and bargaining collectively, can push wages up.
The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) is this union. Formed in 1999, it doesn't negotiate wages in the conventional sense, since inter-county players remain amateur, but it does seek to have government funding increased. This week it sought an increase of €700 in player allowances to combat the ongoing "cost of living crisis" in Ireland. This would bring the total allowance from €1,800 to €2,500 per player, per year.
Should they succeed, it will be a textbook case of an industrial union in the sports domain successfully engaging in collective bargaining for the benefit of its members.
Most labour markets have many employers competing for workers. Football, baseball and rugby are all great examples of this, as are many other team sports. This competition pushes wages toward what those players are actually worth.
In Ireland, inter-county GAA doesn't look like that. There is, in effect, one "buyer" of inter-county playing services. Except for a limited number of Gaelic football players moving to play in Australia, players can't transfer their skills to a rival league or team paying more, the way a professional footballer could. Those playing hurling have no route to Australia at all. This scenario is close to a textbook example of a monopsony: a single dominant buyer (the GAA) facing many sellers (the players). And the standard result of monopsony power is that "compensation" gets pushed below what a competitive market would offer.
While there is no pay in GAA, there is a form of funding through which players are compensated: a grant scheme, run through Sport Ireland in partnership with the GAA. This is required because the GAA remains an amateur association. The commitment required of players, however, is enormous, and they are effectively "professional" in all but name. That's exactly where a union earns its keep. A monopsony buyer, left alone, sets "pay" low. A union, acting as the single seller of labour and bargaining collectively, can push wages up.
The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) is this union. Formed in 1999, it doesn't negotiate wages in the conventional sense, since inter-county players remain amateur, but it does seek to have government funding increased. This week it sought an increase of €700 in player allowances to combat the ongoing "cost of living crisis" in Ireland. This would bring the total allowance from €1,800 to €2,500 per player, per year.
Should they succeed, it will be a textbook case of an industrial union in the sports domain successfully engaging in collective bargaining for the benefit of its members.
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