Tony Verdie 20.8.04

Racing Post 20.8.2004 Letters. Stable staff don’t need unionisation. Tony Verdie from Banstead Surrey says stable staff just need the ability to walk away from a bad employer.

I have read much of what Paul Haigh has written recently in relation to the treatment of stable staff by their employers, initiated by the dismissal of an allegedly less-than-satisfactory employee of Marcus Tregoning’s.

I suspect that Mr Haigh will only be at peace with himself if stable staff sign up with a trade union as belligerent as the one under the stewardship of RMT union general secretary Bob Crow who, of late, has so enriched the lives of London’s commuters by either bringing his ‘brethren’ out on strike, or threatening to do so.

I have never been gainfully employed in a racing stable, but I have been around several such establishments in an unpaid capacity on and off for more than 50 years.

Having, therefore, viewed stable life from the sidelines, I do not believe most employees regard themselves as the subject of maltreatment by their employer.

Yes the wages paid are not generally commensurate with those on offer in other commercial areas. But there is a world of difference between not being well paid and rank exploitation.

I suggest the reason why stable staff do not up-sticks and choose an alternative career is because they genuinely enjoy what they have elected to do: work with horses.

If the majority of employers in racing stables were inconsiderate towards their staff, treated them unjustly, paid them badly and took advantage of them in the manner that Mr Haigh seems to suggest then, surely, they would be bereft of staff.

In such circumstances, stable staff do not require forceful unionisation in order to improve their conditions, merely the ability to walk away from a bad employer, whose poor reputation would soon become known to the wider workforce.

Reading the stable vacancies in the columns of the Racing Post, Mr Haigh, there are plenty of opportunities to relocate if an employee believes he is being hard done by.

Of course, I have encountered stable staff who believe they have an axe to grind with their employer. The curious thing is, though, their colleagues did not share the view.