23rd December 2002 Turfcall`s Urgent Red Alert Wake Up Call to
British horseracing was sent out on February 14th 2001. Sheikh Mohammed sent his
out in the Racing Post on Monday December 11th 2002.
British racecourses take the view that they are the sole owners
of British horseracing, and the BHB`s future funding plan to acknowledge and
uphold all the rights of and for all horsemen/women, has been thrown on the
scrap heap. So basically British horseracing is at present at ground zero.
Because quite simply if true horsemen/women are not required and surplus to
requirements on the British horseracing stage, then it will fast become an empty
one. Already relegated to 4th division, and going down the shoot fast, without
the aid of Bin Laden.
*Letters: Speech made business sense, Published: 20/12/2002 (Comment) Andrew
Appleby
Andrew Appleby applauds Sheikh Mohammed's Gimcrack speech
I CONGRATULATE Sheikh Mohammed on his Gimcrack Speech, especially that "a
new deal [for stable staff] should be made a priority".
Some will say: "It's easy for him - with all the oil money". I
believe, however, that Sheikh Mohammed is talking business sense - the same
business sense he has shown in developing Dubai so it does not solely depend on
oil revenue.
There are those who forget horseracing is a business, not least a leisure and
entertainment business, and that standard business principles apply.
Bill Adams of the Stable Lads' Association is almost correct in his comment that
"stable staff wages depend on what a trainer can charge any one
owner". I would suggest it is more correct to say: "the wages a
trainer can offer depend on what he charges".
It is financial suicide for trainers to charge low fees to attract extra owners.
This leads to more horses and more work - but probably fewer staff. This would
mean horses not being trained properly.
There are minimum fee levels and minimum wage levels. Equally, there are optimum
fee levels and optimum wage levels. (Some might say there are also Godolphin
levels).
Optimum levels mean that staff are paid a decent wage and there are adequate
staff/horse ratios and owners should be happy that they are getting value for
money.
If trainers and their financial advisers have calculated sensible cash flows
even they could be happy.
The National Trainers' Federation states 90 per cent of trainers pay above the
minimum agreed rates of pay. This ignores that these minimum rates of pay are
inadequate.
A gross example of such inadequacy is the agreement between the NTF and SLA that
overtime for stable staff is paid at the basic minimum rate - rather than time
and a quarter, half or double time.
How the Jockey Club and/or BHB came to condone this, I am at a total loss to
understand. How the SLA agreed to this, I do not know. It is neither in the best
interests of stable staff, nor the long-term interests of the industry.
Greg Nichols, BHB chief executive, hit the nail on the head when saying:
"The challenges we face . . . can only be resolved by co-operation and
goodwill among all sectors of our highly interdependent
industry".
Andrew Appleby
Newmarket
08th April 2003 The long awaited Office of Fair Trading report
The Office of Fair Trading is supposed to be looking to reform the industry
but where in their proposals is anything that will benefit all these horsemen
and horsewomen who keep the show on the road each day who are paid a pittance
for their troubles. Competition is not the answer to these more fundamental
questions. It is hoped that the Competition Commission takes a more intelligent
view of what is needed to make an industry successful and SUSTAINABLE.
*6th February 2003 Letters: Staff are being taken for a ride
Published: 06/02/2003 (Comment) ANDREW APPLEBY
Horsebox driver Andrew Appleby on the new terms for stable staff
AS Grade A stable staff, from February 1, earn a minimum of pounds 234.18 for 42
and a half hours' work a week (with one and a half days off per fortnight), bear
in mind that the national average wage at October last year was pounds 464.70
and the average house price was pounds 102,000, usually requiring a pounds
15,000 deposit.
Now imagine a Grade A stable lad goes racing for the day. Suppose he starts
work at 7am, leaves for the racecourse at 7.30am, arrives at noon, races at 3pm,
leaves at 4pm, arrives in the yard at 8.30pm and leaves the yard at 9pm. Under
the National Trainers' Federation/Stable Lads' Association agreement, of the 14
hours between 7am and 9pm, seven hours are normal work hours (at a minimum of
pounds 5.51 per hour) and seven hours are overtime, at the national minimum rate
of pounds 4.20.
Our Grade A lad receives an extra pounds 29.40 for going racing - rather than
two times his
basic pounds 38.57 for working two days in one.
If our lad goes racing overnight he perhaps starts work at 7am, leaves for
the racecourse at noon, arrives at the racecourse at 5pm, beds down the horse by
6pm, stays overnight, attends to his horse from 7am to 9am, gets his horse ready
at 2pm for a 3pm race, leaves the racecourse at 4pm and arrives back at the
stables by 9pm.
Under the agreement, he receives eight hours overtime at the national minimum
rate of pounds 4.20. Our Grade A lad thus receives pounds 33.60 overtime - plus
possibly an pounds 11 overnight
allowance - for being away from home for 38 hours.
Does anyone know a solicitor, accountant or `consultant', charging, say,
pounds 100 per hour (pounds 700 for a seven-hour day), who would lower their
hourly rate to pounds 76.22 per hour if working a 14-hour day - or not charge
for time spent away from the office? Would any trades person reduce their
charges as the NTF/SLA have agreed to reduce stable lads' entitlements?
Could it be that a reason for racing staff shortages is that stable staff are
fed up of
Newmarket being taken for a ride?
*Racing Post Campaign for a Fair Deal for stable staff in May, June, July
2003
'Underpaid staff subsidise the sport... it is not just unacceptable, it's
immoral' - Sheikh Mohammed Published Racing Post: 29/05/2003 (Features) David Ashforth
OVER the past two days, we have exposed how the stable staff's workload has
expanded while numbers have dropped - and how some of Britain's 6,600 stable
employees earn only the Government's national minimum wage.
Many earn more, but the racing industry, for all its fine words, is allowing
skilled workers to do excessive overtime at the lowest rates permitted. Loyal
staff are being driven from a job they love.
Today, we highlight the support given to staff by Sheikh Mohammed, the most
powerful owner in British racing and, so far, the only one to stand up and
publicly call for a better deal for stable staff.
We examine the efforts of the Stable Lads' Association, set up in the wake of
the 1975 strike, which also produced a forum for negotiations between staff and
trainers, the National Joint Council for Stable Staff.
Today we speak to the SLA's national secretary, Bill Adams, about his work.
We reveal the worries of long-serving head groom Ron Thomas, who is concerned
that there are too few incentives to keep top-class staff in the sport and that
pension provision is inadequate.
Thomas is not a revolutionary, but Andrew Appleby, a horse transporter, is more
radical. Prompted by the complaints he heard from stable staff at racecourses,
Appleby, whose daughter Victoria was once a successful apprentice, organised a
survey of travelling head staff's opinions of racecourse facilities
BRITAIN'S stable staff have an influential supporter in their bid for better pay
and conditions: Sheikh Mohammed.
In a powerful but largely overlooked part of his Gimcrack Dinner speech last
December, Britain's leading owner called for an `action plan' to improve stable
staff pay and conditions.
He said: "It is time racing's leaders spoke up for stable staff; time that
tackling the problem was made a priority; time that decisions made at the BHB
and elsewhere were tested to see how they impact on stable staff. Time, in
short, for a new deal for stable staff."
So far, his plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears, as the first two days
of our investigation have revealed. Sheikh Mohammed made clear in his Gimcrack
speech that he considers this must change.
He said he had been "hugely disappointed" that "hardly anyone,
amidst the acres of newsprint and airtime that have been devoted to discussions
on racing's finances in recent years, has sought to make stable staff a
priority.
"Again and again, we hear from trainers that the biggest problem they
face is recruiting good staff," said the Sheikh. "Why? Because they
are often poorly paid, are offered only a limited career path, and have pension
arrangements that might be said to belong to a bygone age."
Suggesting that the "historic underfunding" of the sport was largely
responsible for what he described as an "appalling situation", the
Sheikh added: "It will shame everyone involved in British racing if the
current opportunity is not seized and significant steps are not taken to put the
situation right as quickly as possible.
"The truth is that underpaid stable staff are subsidising the sport in
exactly the same way as owners are. That is not just unacceptable, it is
immoral."
Sheikh Mohammed pointed out that Godolphin, like some other trainers, are
fortunate enough to be able to pay their employees more than the minimum rates.
"Staff are the key to producing top-class horses," he added.
"Without high-quality staff, it is impossible. That is why I believe we
need an action plan aimed at improving the pay and conditions of stable staff in
Britain."
Sheikh Mohammed was disappointed by the apparent lack of response to his
words - not least from the Stable Lads' Association, whose cause he had so
vocally supported.
Bill Adams, the SLA's national secretary, said afterwards: "I agreed with
much of the speech, but would point out that, although he spoke of stable staff
wages, it must be said that he in his position is a little out of touch with
reality."
Adams, 64, worked as a head groom for John Blundell and Richard Perkins
before agreeing to lead the SLA for one year, in 1986. He has been there ever
since and, in 2000, was awarded the MBE for services to the SLA and to the
racing industry.
With few resources, he has worked hard to deal with individual stable staff's
problems, including those of non-SLA members on issues such as pay, redundancy
and unfair dismissal.
Despite his long service, Adams is an unfamiliar figure to many staff, steering
clear of the media, and preferring to pursue the SLA's business in private. He
believes that the best results are obtained by negotiating in a spirit of
conciliation and compromise with employers. Until two years ago, the SLA
suffered from a serious shortage of members and funds. Since 2001, 0.15 per cent
of prize-money - equivalent to over pounds 100,000 this year - has been
allocated to the SLA, and all stable staff are now automatically members of the
association, which is about 5,000 strong. It has a national committee and three
regional committees.
Until recently, Adams has worked on a shoestring. "When I took over, in
1986, there was pounds 10 in the kitty," he recalls. "I converted a
room at home into an office, and I paid for the telephone. The most members we
ever had was 1,000."
Now Adams has a new office and an assistant, and is proud of the progress that
has been made.
Referring to the annually negotiated Memorandum of Agreement on pay and
conditions, which guarantees annual pay of only pounds 11,000 for top-grade
staff for a 40-hour week, Adams says: "I'm proud of the agreement. People
have very short memories. When I took over, the rates of pay ended at aged 19.
Whatever you got when you were 19, you stayed on unless you were a head lad or
travelling head lad. It was very unjust. I also initiated the introduction of
NVQs linked to grades of pay, to give young people something to aim at."
Adams would like stable staff to get more but emphasises that recent
increases in minimum rates have been above the rate of inflation, that pay and
conditions compare favourably with other equine sports and that the position of
trainers needs to be considered.
"Wage rates are adequate," says Adams, "because, if the agreement
were scrapped, the situation would be the same as in other equine areas, and
staff would be paid the national minimum wage.
"I'd like more money for staff and, at the end of the year, I will see if
prize-money is up - but if 50 trainers went out of business I wouldn't be happy.
There have to be sensible negotiations."
Adams is opposed to the introduction of Saturday evening racing when there is
Sunday racing and points out that, under the agreement, staff are not obliged to
go racing when it takes them above their agreed hours of work.
"Staff problems haven't been solved," he says. "We had a
strong argument for no Saturday evening racing when there was Sunday racing, and
it shouldn't come in. If it does, at the end of 2004 we will have to see how it
has worked and what the reaction from staff is. We have no agreement to cover
it.
"As a lad, the agreement is to work 40 hours one week and 45 hours the
next. Anything more, and a lad has the right to say, `I'm not going racing.' If
they haven't got the staff to service the product, something has to be done
about it. I hope things will get better."
Adams is not alone in that.
*Racing Post Letters Andrew Appleby published 29/05/2003
Course accommodation prompts hot and cold running resentment
Stable staff regard the facilities provided for them at many racecourses as
inadequate or worse, and clearly view this as evidence that they are not valued.
If they were, they would not be subjected to Ayr's "World War II beds and
blankets", Carlisle's "disgusting" hostel, Bath's digs that
"want bombing", Doncaster's "horrid" accommodation for
women, and many other unacceptable facilities reported in a survey conducted by
Andrew Appleby, and by staff questioned during our own study.
When the Stable Lads' Association conducted a survey in 2000/2001, Bill Adams
reported that "we found, as is often the case, one man's meat was another
man's poison," but Appleby's survey, even if not academically rigorous,
provides a credible flavour of shared opinions.
Not all are critical. Ascot receives consistently favourable comment, not
merely because of superior facilities and food but also because of a responsive
and respectful attitude towards staff, often said to be missing elsewhere.
Redcar is regularly singled out for praise and, along with Cheltenham and York,
appears at the top of the pecking order. Wetherby, Folkestone, Warwick, Taunton
and Carlisle are towards the bottom.
Stephen Atkin, the Racecourse Association's chief executive, is aware of the
criticisms.
"Stable staff are extremely important and racecourses need to make the
facilities as attractive as possible," he says - while acknowledging that
"stable lads' facilities have gone to the back of the queue because courses
needed to generate income."
That is how stable staff feel; that they are always at the back of the queue. In
desperation, they sometimes refuse to use poor hostels and insist on bed and
breakfast accommodation.
Appleby is disgusted by his findings.
"Do racecourse managers ever go into their own hostels and
canteens?" he asks. "Would they, or racecourse directors, like to eat
and stay there? I would like communication between racecourses and head lads
when there are problems, such as showers not working and no locks on toilets.
"Stable staff work long hours for not much money and, when they get to a
lot of courses, the conditions for them are not good. If they don't improve, in
time they won't have stable staff to bring horses to them."
British Horseracing Board Governors set up a Commission under Lord Donoughue
re-Stud & Stable Staff July 2003 and advertise in the Racing Post requesting
submissions from the public.
*Racing Post Letters Andrew Appleby published 10/12/2003
Course accommodation prompts hot and cold running resentment Questions to answer for Adams
(add letter)
*Racing Post Letters Andrew Appleby published 29/05/2003
Course accommodation prompts hot and cold running resentment
* Andrew Appleby takes stable staff chief Bill Adams to task
(News) Andrew Appleby M to sort
An article in the Sunday Mirror this week raises the point that Bill Adams'
salary as national secretary of the Stable Lads' Association has gone up from
pounds 15,000 to pounds 25,000 to pounds 35,000 in successive years.
Steve Carroll, a travelling head groom with Sir Michael Stoute, states that
he has not received a membership card or rule book (as required under SLA rules)
or any correspondence from Adams. This is standard for the vast majority of SLA
members. In fact, the vast majority of stable staff do not realise they are
members of the SLA, having been accorded free membership when the SLA began
receiving income from prize-money winnings (around pounds 100,000 per annum) in
2001.
The membership of the SLA is given at 6,050. Last year the membership of the SLA,
as in the annual return sent to the Certification Office, was 3,776 - the
previous year was 3,342, but in 2000 was only 370.
Adams seems to have more success enrolling members than trainers have
recruiting staff. Maybe he is in the wrong job. Carroll states that he has
received no correspondence from Bill Adams - and this includes notice of AGM's
and elections, which is contrary to Trade Union Law. One appreciates that
posting notices of AGMs, agendas and elections is expensive. Perhaps, therefore,
Adams could inform the Racing Post of the venue, date and time of the next AGM
(I gather the last was a couple of years ago) and the Racing Post could publish
details of the AGM, agenda and elections?
Would it not also be possible that transport be provided to get members to
the AGM - the cost being met out of the accumulated surplus of the SLA, which is
probably around pounds 150,000?
In the Sunday Mirror article Adams is quoted as saying that he has nothing to
hide - yet says: "My national committee is aware of the increases, but
members are not." Has Adams in fact been hiding from his members the fact
that he works endlessly and tirelessly on behalf of stable staff - or that he
does very little, yet considers his salary increases are justified?
Andrew Appleby
Newmarket
*Racing Post Letters Andrew Appleby published 17/12/2003 Shedding light on the SLA mystery.
Andrew Appleby goes behind the scenes at the Stable Lads' Association
Published: (Comment) Andrew Appleby
REGARDING `Mystery surround stable lads union' - (Newmarket Journal last
week) and `Lads fury at union chief's bumper rise' - (Sunday Mirror, December
7); the Stable Lads' Association was formed in 1978 after the 1975 strike
organised by the TGWU. Bill Adams became national secretary of the SLA in 1986
and has been so since - although whether his appointment has been ratified at
least once every five years in accordance with Section 46 of the Trade Union and
Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act of 1992 I do not know. Membership of the
association was low - only 370 in 2000 - but the annual returns lodged by the
SLA with the certification office under trade union law show membership was
3,342 in 2001 and 3,776 in 2002. The dramatic rise in membership was due to
stable staff being accorded free membership of the association. However,
probably the vast majority of stable staff may be unaware of their membership
and even fewer have received membership cards and rule books - as required under
SLA rules.
Free membership of the SLA became possible when the association began
receiving income from prize-money winnings in 2001. This amounts to around
pounds 100,000 per year.
Bill Adams's salary as national secretary of the SLA was pounds 15,000 in 2000,
pounds 25,000 in 2001 and pounds 35,000 in 2002. An office secretary was paid
pounds 11,000 in 2002 and a bookkeeper pounds 3,500 in 2002; they have been
joined by a further secretary in 2003.
Although the SLA has been receiving not inconsequential funding for the last
three years, the affairs of the SLA seem not to have improved apace. Members
have not received notices of elections and/or AGMs - the last of which, I
understand, was a couple of years ago. This is, of course, contrary to trade
union law. The SLA has only two trustees - Lord Oaksey and Jimmy Hill - also
contrary to the 1992 Act.
I understand the SLA is in possession of an interactive computer system -
which has taken a year or so to set up - so hopefully stable staff should
receive correspondence from the SLA in the near future.
Hopefully, this correspondence will include details of an AGM which is
apparently planned for late February. (The Journal) may be able to elicit
details of venue, date and time). May I appeal to stable staff that, if they
wish to have an association seeking to protect and improve their interests, they
should make every effort to attend the AGM.
Andrew Appleby
Newmarket
*Racing Post Letters Andrew Appleby published 23/12/2003
Not even half a step for staff.
Box driver Andrew Appleby is unimpressed with the wage agreement between the
Stable Lads' Association and the National Trainers' Federation
HOWARD WRIGHT describes the six per cent pay rise for senior staff, agreed
between the Stable Lads' Association and the National Trainers' Federation, as
"inflation busting". I dare say an accountant - and certainly a
statistician - could prove this is not so. Some might regard the
increase as a step in the right direction but, really, it is not even half a
step, and leaves stable staff well off the pace and practically out the back
door once again - as they have been for years.
Had staff been paid a proper wage for these years there would be no need for
"inflation busting" increases.
The SLA/NTF agreement, once again, just mirrors the Government's national
minimum wage - and makes no recognition of the special skills that stable staff
require nor the risks that are part of the job, nor the unsocial hours. One must
concede that perhaps 90 per cent of Grade A staff are paid more than the minimum
- and the figures given in the table in the article are `minimums'.
However, even the "median basic weekly wage" of pounds 284, before
extras, is not really a living wage, with house prices in Newmarket, for
example, starting at pounds 100,000. The official poverty level is pounds 11,500
p.a., so the Grade A minimum is just above, and the Grade B minimum just
below, the poverty line. Poverty may well be a great artistic inspiration, but
it could well unsettle staff and horse - to the detriment of owner and trainer.
Rupert Arnold is quoted as saying: "In addition, 45 per cent of Grade A
staff receive free or subsidised accommodation." There is no such thing as
a free lunch. He goes on to say: "Additional payments are made for hours
spent away from the yard outside normal hours." Is he referring to the
derisory overtime rate while away racing that is paid at the Government's basic
minimum - regardless of staff grade?
Arnold describes the SLA demand for a 15 per cent rise as "simply
unrealistic". It is surely unrealistic to expect that stable staff will
remain in the industry - and that others will be tempted to join it - if wages
and working practices and conditions are not set at more reasonable levels.
Racing staff are the sine qua non of racing: at present they are merely
unsung and undervalued heroes. I wish them all - jumps and Flat - a merry
Christmas.
ANDREW APPLEBY
Newmarket
*Racing Post News GRAHAM GREEN Bill Adams published 31/12/2003. Revolt has
'fizzled out' says Adams
IT appeared last night that Bill Adams had weathered the storm over his
leadership of the Stable Lads' Association - at least in the short term.
Earlier, Adams claimed the revolt had "fizzled out", and predicted the
demand of five senior Newmarket travelling head grooms for the organisation to
convene a special general meeting would be withdrawn by the end of the week.
While no details of the potential deal have been released, it is understood
Adams's critics have decided to give him time - possibly six months - to prove
his effectiveness. One person monitoring developments closely is Newmarket-based
horsebox driver Andrew Appleby, who penned the motion of no confidence in Adams.
Stung by the criticism, Adams has been battling to keep the job he has held for
17 years. This has involved regular discussions over the past week with Roy
Thorpe (employed by Michael Bell), Ian Willows (Luca Cumani), Alison West (Sir
Mark Prescott) and Brian Stevens (Geoff Wragg), as well as a trip from the SLA's
Derbyshire headquarters to meet Steve Carroll (Sir Michael Stoute) in Newmarket.
His attempts to defuse the situation have been given added urgency, with
Appleby prepared to make an application to a judge in chambers if Adams failed
to announce details for the special general meeting by the end of next week.
Speaking yesterday, Adams said the bid aimed at removing him from office had
"fizzled out". He said: "I've had extensive telephone
conversations with four of the people involved, and a two-and-a-half-hour
meeting with Steve [Carroll]. "I can't make an announcement yet. I spoke to
the last [of the five] this morning and they will have a word with the
other four, but I expect the demand for a special meeting to be withdrawn."
Senior trainer Toby Balding has hit out at Appleby in a letter (above) to the
Racing Post.
Balding, a member of the National Trainers' Federation's Presidential
Triumvirate, takes Appleby to task for criticising the recent wage agreement
reached between the SLA and the NTF. Balding also gives underfire Adams full
support in his battle to hold on to the post. Appleby, who claims he would
better represent the interests of stable staff, incurred Balding's wrath by
sniping at the latest pay deal in a letter that appeared in the Racing Post last
Tuesday. He wrote: "Some might regard the increase as a step in the right
direction but, really, it is not even half a step and leaves stable staff well
off the pace and practically out the back door once again. "Had staff been
paid a proper wage for these years there would be no need for `inflation
busting' increases."
Balding also defended the National Joint Council, the body responsible for
handling NTF/SLA pay and conditions, pointing out that while only negotiating
minimum rates, "the NTF survey shows true pay rates across the country are
considerably more rewarding than minimum rates, especially in pockets of high
demand like Newmarket". "As far as Bill Adams is concerned, our
experience is that he is a tough but sensible negotiator who represents all his
members," Balding added. Appleby said: "I admire Bill Adams - and have
told him so. He has kept the SLA afloat, swimming against a tide of
apathy. "However, I do not believe that the best use has been made of the
extra funding which the SLA has been receiving for the last three years. The SLA
is not - or should not be - just about more money and better conditions for
staff."
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