Dispute heads to Labour Court

THE DISPUTE between the Turf Club and its officials over pay and conditions is set to go to the Labour Court next month, but concerns are growing at racing’s regulatory body that any more delays in implementing €500,000 of cuts will affect staff further.

Almost 56 hours of talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) with the Turf Club Officials Association (TCOA) ended on Tuesday without success, and a TCOA spokesman gave the verdict that negotiations “never even got out of the starting stalls”.

Michael O’Donoghue said: “The Turf Club were joined on Tuesday by John McStay (senior steward), who delivered his presentation. At the end of it all we established that things were finished and it now looks like we are going to the Labour Court.”

Before that, the Turf Club is planning to present final submissions on its position to the LRC which will help decide what will actually be examined in any Labour Court talks. Both sides believe it could be a month before more negotiations can begin at the Labour Court.

That concerns the Turf Club, which, on the back of €1.5 million cuts in its budget over the last two years, has to find savings of €500,000 on its spending in 2010. With the end of March approaching, regulatory body officials are increasingly worried that the narrowing time-frame will hit people harder.

“Things are at a critical stage and they are difficult for that very reason,” Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan said yesterday. “Savings will still have to be made, just in a shorter period, and that’s going to be harder on our staff. We still haven’t made any savings this year and that’s why we have been committing so much to the Labour Relations Commission.”

He added: “The reality is that we have contracts that don’t work anymore and they have to be changed. The foundations on which the contracts were negotiated were built in 1993 and things have changed significantly since then. In fact they are completely different.

“For instance, in 1994 there were 25 Sunday fixtures. Now there are 90, and yet officials are restricted to working 25 Sundays. The contracts just don’t work anymore.”

What would have been historic strike action by Turf Club officials was averted last month just days before pickets were set to be placed at two racecourses.

In other news, Horse Racing Ireland chief executive Brian Kavanagh yesterday welcomed the Government decision to move responsibility for the horse and greyhound industries from the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

“I think it is a welcome development because it is a bigger department and it enables racing to be considered more in an appropriate context as both an industry and a sport,” he said.

Kavanagh rejected the idea that such an attitude was a snub to the Department of Sport. “Far from it, we always got support from the officials and the Minister,” he said. “It’s important to remember that we had dealings with many government departments, such as finance, justice and agriculture.”

Footy Facts to land opener

It is over three years since Black Harry last saw a racecourse, but the Willie Mullins-trained star finally returns to action in this afternoon’s Killinan Hurdle at Thurles.

The 10-year-old was last seen running a fine race in what is now titled the Albert Bartlett Hurdle at the 2007 Cheltenham festival, where he had only Wichita Lineman to beat when crashing out at the final flight.

Mullins has persevered with Black Harry through injury problems since, but the gelding faces a stiff opponent today in Footy Facts, whose fitness is certainly not in doubt.

The topweight for the 2m 6f event won at Cork on Sunday when repelling the desperate, late lunge of Rigour Back Bob and is clearly in form.

Davy Condon teams up with Liam Burke for De Bartishell in the first Urlingford Maiden Hurdle, and some improvement on this one’s fourth to Ambitious Fan to Gowran earlier in the month should see him go close.

Trainer “Shark” Hanlon has appealed the penalties imposed on him at Gowran on Saturday when Fearless Warrior was banned for 42 days after the stewards decided the racecourse had been used as a training ground.

Hanlon was fined €2,000, but he should fancy his chances today with Fennis Boy in the three-mile Devil’s Bit Maiden Hurdle after a decent third to Lady Roberta at the weekend.