Randji Strike

Are these the nails for SA racing's coffin?

Bob Brogan wrote: Back entrance gate to Randjes this afternoon.

A guy in the red t-shirt is shaking hands with an anti-riot fighter

Trainers are trying to sort it today

Mac wrote: Are these the nails for SA racing's coffin?

Its just a matter of time , dave scott keeps asking why they persist with ngong broadcasts , they giving u a view into the future of sa horseracing

Its sadly not just racing

I wasn’t going to reply to this topic because I feel it could turn badly, but I would like to ask 2 things.

- surely it is a simple process to put the grooms on a salary structure according to regulations and have it monitored by a 3rd party. Yes it is basically labor broking but this then illeviates any problems with short pay and working hours. And surely there must be a formula for the grooms of how many horses per groom x hours etc = pay?

- secondly, are the grooms that are being treated fairly and paid correctly involved in the strike or are they also locked in? And should the disgruntled grooms get the required wage, are they happy to sign into their contract that should they strike unless the above not being adhered to that it is intant grounds for dismissal.

Unfortunately in this country nobody worries about the company (I’m not saying they right here) but the cold hard truth is that if the company (trainer) closes not only are they getting short paid, they not getting paid, food and accommodation.

ANOTHER EFF-led strike by grooms at the Randjesfontein Training Centre north of Johannesburg is designed to cause the cancellation of the race meeting scheduled for the Vaal today.

This follows a similar strike which led to the disruption of a Turffontein meeting last month when racing went ahead but fields were depleted and betting turnovers were affected.

Approximately 40% of runners carded at the Vaal are trained at Randjesfontein and indications are that the trucks carrying runners to the Vaal will be blocked and prevented from entering the centre to load the horses.

The first information mail sent out by the National Racing Bureau at 7am on Thursday morning contained no news of the strike, that started yesterday, but comments from trainers and staff filtering in from the centre tell of “chaos that could get ugly”.

One trainer reported: “We just had to drive through a group of about 200 grooms who were armed to the hilt. We were alerted at 3am this morning that members of the EFF were pulling grooms from the stables and threatening to let the horses out. Randjesfontein security deserted their posts.”

There is said to be talks going on between officials, trainers and leaders of the EFF. Official negotiations were planned to start as early as possible.

The grooms’ gripes are said to centre around wages and living conditions at Randjesfontein.

Phumelela management could not be reached for comment this morning.

www.turftalk.co.za/randjes-chaos-that-could-get-ugly/

There is another thread here about owners being expected to prop up and unsustainable mod.
Trainers lobbied to receive a further 3% of stakes, upping them up from 7% to 10%.
For that to happen, trainers are expected to turn a blind eye to the sectional timing debacle and allow these devices on their owners' horses without protest or resistance.
That being so, why not compromise and give the grooms half (or 1%) of that 3% that trainers are squeezing out of the owners ?

who owns the training centers?? Why have they not got the police involved to stabilize the situation so that trainers and grooms can start negotiations? And why are they never available for comment?

Sickening!

Stakes need to increase
Training fees need to increase
Grooms wages need to increase

Trainers doing deals needs to stop

What is the Racing Association doing about this? I thought they were there to protect Trainers and Owners interests? Why are they not doing the difficult things rather than just the nice things?

To me it looks like everyone is just pointing fingers at the trainers and that is unacceptable.. trainers are one of the strong pillars racing is built on.. those who are paid salaries to administrate and protect the industry stop passing the buck and get involved man..

Bob Brogan wrote: Stakes need to increase
Training fees need to increase
Grooms wages need to increase

Trainers doing deals needs to stop

I believe that the way stakes are distributed needs attention - Some form of appearance fee is needed or a rebate in stabling fees passed on to owners should their horse run in a month ...that will help the smaller owner and trainer.