Wednesday, February 10, 2010
TURF CLUB officials, currently in dispute with the Turf Club, are threatening to strike on Sunday February 28, an afternoon when racing is scheduled for both Leopardstown and Clonmel.
Mandate Trade Union, which represents the Turf Club Officials Association (TCOA), has issued strike notice on behalf of its members.
The 32 members of the TCOA, which includes officials who carry out stewarding duties and are the sole regulators and enforcers of the rules of horseracing in Ireland, are striking over issues relating to pay and the slashing of the integrity budget.
According to Mandate, and the officials, there is a strong possibility of resolving the dispute ahead of the strike, but only if both parties agree to attend the Labour Court.
Mandy Kane, Divisional Organiser for Mandate, said: "The strike may affect several events on the Irish horseracing calendar, including Clonmel and Leopardstown, but we want to be quite clear in stating that the officials do not want to go on strike and would much prefer to resolve the dispute as quickly as possible.
"We have already requested that the Turf Club join us in our endeavour to resolve the dispute by attending the Labour Court in the interests of their employees and the horseracing public before any unnecessary damage is done to Irish horseracing’s credibility.
"Yet, despite receiving funds from Irish taxpayers, the Turf Club is refusing to use the state machinery for resolving industrial relations disputes."
Mandate explained that the vast majority of officials in the TCOA will see an approximate 36.5% cut in income if the Turf Club plans go ahead. This is despite the fact that funding for the organisation has only reduced by about 19% according to the Turf Club Chief Executive Denis Egan’s own figures. The officials claim that this is disproportionate to cutbacks imposed or agreed with other sectors of the organisation.
Ms Kane continued: "You simply cannot go about business in the way that the Turf Club has. They have already unilaterally imposed income cuts on our members and are now attempting to impose further cuts which will have a devastating effect, not only on our members and their families standards of living, but also on the integrity of the horseracing industry in Ireland.
"We have stated previously that while we accept that cost cutting measures may be necessary, we are opposed to the manner in which the Turf Club has gone about this. They haven’t engaged meaningfully in negotiations and have attempted, over several years, to deteriorate the terms and conditions of their employees without agreement with the officials or their union."
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