Randji Strike

pirates wrote:

Bob Brogan wrote: Ask Mike De Kock who caused this problem

please elaborate ?

Mike de Kock reported: “There are between 300-400 strikers. We can’t get in or out of the centre, all access is blocked and all the Randjesfontein runners will have to be scratched. I’m not sure it’s worthwhile continuing with racing at all as betting pools will be decimated.
“This appears to be a wildcat strike. There hasn’t been any negotiation so far, though there have been what sounds like valid complaints including labour-related issues.
“Phumelela’s mode of transport has also been mentioned. When horses are transported to races the grooms do not want to stand with the horses inside the floats which may well be a valid concern too.”
“The sad reality is that grooms will be the losers here. This is not a legitimate strike, they have done it in a disorderly fashion and it may well cost them their jobs and income.
“It is also unfortunate that the trainers like myself who do our best and go out of our way to comply and treat our grooms very well, have to suffer because a small minority of trainers that don’t comply.”

From MDK website

R740 is nothing today.Try coming out on R100 per day.

The economics in horse racing in this country is flawed.. we all know that.. it has been discussed so often and does not need to be discussed again.. we also all know some of the yards... NOT ALL .. the grooms are not payed a living wage..otherwise there would be no strike.. it is unacceptable to to say that R 800 a week is a living wage in SA.. the responsibility that goes with the job.. and it does NOT matter if it's 30 hours or 50 hours a week.. is very high for a groom.. he is dealing with live animals worth R100s of thousands and that is a huge responsibility.. those who are exploiting need to come forward and discuss with their owners why and the NHRA should be faaaar more involved than what they currently seem to be.. there has not yet even been a press release and this started yesterday afternoon already ie Saturday afternoon.. Did they think it was just going to go away.. please heavens above roll up your sleeves you racing authorities and earn YOUR wages and sort the minority out.. develop a better system.. keep meetings flowing.. keep talks on grievances under discussion.. appoint specialist people if you need to.. nobody else is going to make it go away on your behalf.

in a country where unemployment is close to 50% and education system is in the toilet as horrible as it seems a living wage is better than n wage at all.
i would love to see everyone earning fantastic salaries but in SA that is not possible. forcing wages up artificially will lead to more unemployment and eahc time this happens more people drain an already bankrupt Dole system in SA.
Learn work earn learn promote work earn learn promote earn

repeat repeat repeat

compare turffontein parade ring trainer and groom attire

mydada very valid point ,and one I will have sorted out in the stable I am personally involved in mostly ,before the meeting held on on the 4th June in Kimberly. You will see the visible change as my personal contribution.

I know all the excuses and can assure you in racing there is few owners that is not out of pocket but that is a choice we make the same for most trainers it is not such a glamorous life as most assume and in many cases they struggle to make a living thats why so many exit the training ranks.

We all know the problems ..... what is the answers owners trainers and grooms has indirectly sponsored the Phumelela's business model ( stakes are not economically viable for owners when I started in 1988 you could pay the keep of your horse with one win for 8-9 months now you can for 4 months) how many horses win 3 times a year?? The easy answer is grooms should be remunerated by the operator for each runner they got ,similar to jockey's getting a riding fee why not pay them a race fee of R100 per runner ? not much but it will make a difference I personally think that is the least the operator can do to keep racing going.

Is the ratio right in earnings from stakes? Jocks 7-10% , trainers 7% and grooms 1% of stake cheque? is it right that a groom only get money if his horse earn? with the jock and trainer yes but all the runners need the same attention in this case the grooms input......

On a forum like this it would be great to brainstorm ideas which could be put forward to the operator by Admin and that we refrain of attacking valid posts in my little knowledge of racing I respect the work grooms do how dangerous it is for jocks and how untankfull a job trainers have more positive contributions will surely make a difference .

The famous quote applies ' the most important person in my bussiness is my workers, if they are happy the clients will be happy ( Ghandi said the most important person on my premises is the customer - to the contrary)

O by the way I got a few runners today .... Got shares in All of Me should win as the juveniles is weak in Kim and she probably is good enough to win in Gauteng its to collect the BSA bonus that she is raiding Kim and no indication of her ability as some might assume, Nico's Chick is well and must be included I personally expect her to go close, Peter the Wailer is a really nice horse who had issues which was sorted out by Ziets and if it was 1800 we would have been very confident yet hopefull over 1600. We withdrew Levi Lad after the handicapper at his own discretion decided he must be a reserve though he had the better draw and MR than certain runners and we elected to run him in Jhburg on Thursday. Lastly Madame Excess she is with Borman now for the only reason that we think she dont travel well and he confirmed big improvement if it was against the girls she would have had a place chance so watch her in future - Happy punting

Thanks for your constructive posts Bignic and the sooner these issues are ironed out the better for racing.

For too long now, the NHA, as the Regulator. and the Operator(s) have reneged on addressing the issue of the Grooms, passing the buck onto the individual trainers and washing their hands off this essential group of persons within our industry.
The old excuse of “if we pay them more it will result in job losses” blah blah, just doesn’t cut it any more. The industry, as others have, will sort itself out and stabilize after a while.
The Ooerator received a tax rebate from Government and should be compelled to pass some on (albeit 1%) on to issues such as this (in fact Phumelela should start off by paying back the R16million “Grooms fund” they gobbled up nigh on a decade ago).

I hear part of the issue was a trainer or trainers not paying the 1%

Here we go again....surely we have all got the T Shirt on this one already.

For starters, NHA and Phumelela are NOT the employers of the grooms and they CANNOT go above the law of the land. Lets just please agree on that fact of life. What NHA will do is come down harshly on anyone who is not compliant with the labour laws of the land. NHA will suspend the Trainer and Phumelela will evict the Trainer. These are clear in the rules and contracts.
Some points -
1)From burning trucks and looting them at Mooi River toll whilst masses cross the road and join the orgy with smash and grab looting from shops in town, to cash heists, schools and universities being vandalised and burned, smashing bricks through the windscreens of innocent motorists, kill the farmer, kill the boer, etc etc. Ashwin Willemse has a temper tantrum on TV and huge calls for Mallet and Naas to be suspended. No enquiry first, no other side to the story. The Country has long passed the stage for reason and reasonable behaviour.

2)Any Trainer not paying grooms the minimum and their 1 percent of stakes can be reported to Phumelela and/or NHA and IMMEDIATE action will be taken. All of the grooms know this, it has been communicated to their Associations on numerous occassions. The Trainer WILL be suspended and/ or put off Phumelela's premises.

3) It must be obvious, surely, that SA is presently facing a huge unemployment crisis. Young people with matric certificates and other qualifications CANNOT find work. So, what hope do people have of finding employment anywhere, with only a grade 3 or no schooling at all, have no skills, can only speak their own language, no English and cannot read and write ? Thank heavens for Racing and the employment that it creates for many of these people.

4)No Trainer has the right to exploit any employee. Trainers are paying the wage which is prescribed by Govt.

5)The biggest problem is that grooms have found a loophole in the law, which states that people cannot be transported in the same space as horses. Albeit that this has been fine for some 50 years, now grooms are suddenly afraid of injury. I have never ever had a groom injured by a horse inside the floats...
I can also assure you that no matter how you redesigned the floats, without a groom holding the horse, there will be many scratchings and many injuries to horses.

6) Everything in this Country nowadays transforms to Racism. However, it suits many to ignore ethnicism. Here in KZN , where Hostels have shared rooms and shared common areas, come and try and sort out the nightmare of mixing various grooms from various ethnical backgrounds. In the big stables in Gauteng , there are often a mix. Many Zimbabweans are in some yards. The locals hate this and stir up trouble all of the time.

So, leave NHA out of it. Leave Racing out of it. Leave Trainers out of it. Leave normal reason out of it too, because that is not allowed to work. These people are actually just innocent pawns , being made unrealistic promises, in the move to destabilise the Country, to make it ungovernable, as the Elections loom. Cyril has a huge problem - he is being checkmated even before he moves.

It is not a Racing problem. It is a South African crisis that we are facing.

Phumelela, "pay back the money".