WHEREAS, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), founded in 1998, is the first professional sports union for women and represents players across twelve WNBA teams in twelve U.S. cities; and

WHEREAS, WNBPA members have been national leaders in the fight for pay equity, workplace fairness, and respect for women athletes, securing historic gains in wages, benefits, and working conditions through collective voices; and

WHEREAS, despite the WNBA’s record growth in viewership, merchandise sales, and attendance, along with a new $2.2 billion television rights deal, players currently receive no shared revenue from media, sponsorship, or ticket sales in contrast to their male counterparts in other major professional sports leagues who receive roughly 50% of shared revenues; and

WHEREAS, the WNBPA is engaged in collective bargaining with the league to secure a new contract that fairly reflects players’ contributions to the league’s success, including demands for equitable revenue sharing, improved travel conditions, and comprehensive health, safety, and family benefits; and

WHEREAS, women athletes are systemically underpaid across professional sports; salary-cap constraints and contract structures in women’s sports often limit earnings growth and obscure equitable revenue sharing; parallel fights for equal pay—such as the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team’s campaign—demonstrate the importance of transparent revenue formulas and enforceable equity standards; and many professional women athletes still earn less than six figures, while a small number of top players may earn more; the overall compensation landscape remains inequitable relative to value created; and

WHEREAS, WNBA players, most of whom are Black women and/or members or allies of the LGBTQ+ community, have faced longstanding racial, gender, and economic inequities within the sports industry, emblematic of broader fights for justice across all workplaces; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the United Federation of Teachers, stands in full solidarity with the WNBPA and its members in their collective bargaining negotiations, and calls on the WNBA to bargain in good faith before the current agreement’s expiration; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT calls on corporate sponsors, team owners, and sports leagues to ensure just investments in women’s sports, transparency in revenue sharing, and fair treatment of all athletes; and to adopt clear, public revenue-sharing benchmarks that reflect actual league growth and player contributions; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT supports WNBPA members by informing our membership, engaging in solidarity actions, and advocating for racial, gender, and economic justice in professional sports and beyond as well as uplifting pay equity initiatives at the city level; and that in recognizing that the progress achieved by the WNBPA benefits every worker striving for equal pay, dignity, and collective power on the job, the UFT reaffirms its commitment to pay equity and gender fairness across all industries, including but not limited to our own majority woman membership serving the community in public education and healthcare.