Labor News & Commentary July 21 players protest pay at the WNBA All-Star Game and more

[Omaha Steve]

https://onlabor.org/july-21-2025/

By Justin Cassera

Justin Cassera is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s news and commentary, players protest pay at the WNBA All-Star Game and the Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party makes a surprise endorsement for mayor.

On Saturday night, players at the WNBA All-Star Game showed support for fair pay by wearing shirts that read “Pay Us What You Owe Us.” The shirts, worn by both teams during warmups, succeeded in drawing attention to stalled negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the WNBA Players Association (“WNBPA”). The sides have come to agreement on family planning and retirement benefits but remain far apart on revenue sharing and salary structure. The WNBPA argues that the players’ current revenue-sharing scheme—which sees athletes take home roughly 9% of the league’s revenue—is drastically different from the NBA, where male athletes receive approximately half. “The players are what is building this brand and this league,” said Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx. In response, the WNBA asserts that the league can’t afford to pay more because, despite its recent explosion in popularity and planned expansion, it is still unprofitable. However, a new TV deal for the league beginning in 2026 will likely make the league profitable. The parties last met on Thursday, the first such meeting since last December.


Also on Saturday night, the Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (“DFL”) endorsed Omar Fateh, a democratic socialist and current state senator, for mayor. This is the first time the DFL has endorsed a mayoral candidate in a contested race since 1997. The endorsement came late in the party’s convention after a long night of electronic voting issues that caused many supporters to leave the arena. The victory comes as a shock to many who initially viewed Fateh as an outsider candidate with little hope of successfully challenging the well-funded incumbent. Many view Fateh as a corollary to Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City. In his victory speech, Fateh stated that the night represented “a rejection of politics as usual.” “We know the status quo are going to do anything and everything to maintain power . . . They’ll have all the money in the world . . . But they don’t have you.” Fateh has authored dozens of bills during his time in the state senate, including one that sought to provide minimum wages and worker protections for rideshare drivers. Incumbent mayor and DFL member Jacob Frey has promised to appeal the endorsement to the state party. He remains the race favorite.