After years of fighting for better pay and benefits, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have unionized. The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association announced Friday that the team has voluntarily recognized the cheerleaders as a collective bargaining unit following a “meaningful discussion.” That gives the newly formed union a green light to begin negotiating. If successful, they would be the first NFL cheer squad to reach a contract.
It’s another win for football’s biggest cheerleading brand, which last year secured a 400 percent raise coming off the massive success of “America’s Sweethearts,” the Netflix documentary series that put on full display the athleticism and talent it takes to be a competitive NFL cheerleader — and what little pay comes with the job. The cheerleaders have for years worked together behind the scenes — at one point threatening to stage a walkout — to win higher pay. During the show’s first season, former Cowboys cheerleader Kat Puryear revealed that her salary through 2022 was equivalent to that of “a substitute teacher” or a “Chick-fil-A worker that works full time.” That helped jumpstart a conversation that led to all cheerleaders on the team getting a pay bump last year; veterans on the squad went from earning from $15 an hour to $75 an hour.
On the show’s second season, Kelli Finglass, the team’s director, called the effort to raise wages “60-plus years long overdue.” “Our efforts were heard,” Megan McElaney, one of the cheerleaders who led the charge for higher pay, said in the show’s final episode. They have so much value.” The push by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and now the recognition of their union, marks a sea change for the sport. In 2014, Lacy Thibodeaux-Fields, then part of the Oakland Raiderettes, sued her team alleging a violation of state minimum wage and labor laws.
During the 2014 season, she earned barely $1,000 for work that included nine hours a week in practice, another nine on game days and at least 10 community events per season. Her case, and several others that came after it, ended in settlements. For many, the situation has long been symbolic of the gender imbalance that perpetuated years of very little pay for the cheerleaders — lower, even, than what was paid to team mascots.
For decades, cheerleading has been cast aside as an “honor” rather than a job that requires skill, training and compensation. But as Thibodeaux-Fields’ attorney, Sharon Vinick, pointed out during court proceedings on her case: “It’s an honor to be a quarterback, but they don’t do it for free.” The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are the only NFL squad besides the Jills, of the Buffalo Bills, that have tried unionizing. The Jills successfully voted to unionize in 1995, but the effort ultimately dissolved a year later.
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