British Stalls Handlers Dispute Resolved

The British stalls handlers dispute finally reached a settlement last Friday after some farcical scenes at some racetracks last week.

Last-ditch talks on Friday finally yielded a deal allowing Transport and General Workers’ Union representative, Peter Medhurst, to immediately call off industrial action and welcome the agreement as “a victory for common sense.”

The news was quickly conveyed to stalls handlers planning to boycott the first three races at Friday’s four Flat meetings ahead of an all-out strike from Monday.

Using a flip-start mechanism, or flag, for every race threatened to dilute the prestige of Royal Ascot, with all the sprints and many of the Group races and major handicaps effectively reduced to a lottery.

When pressed into action for the Temple Stakes live on BBC at the Derby meeting last week uproar ensued when the field was released with one runner facing the wrong way and another left by some 15 lengths.

Strike action at the Royal meeting would have raised serious doubts over the participation of a number of top-class performers including French-trained Six Perfections, favourite for the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday.

“They have agreed to all our proposals in full, including a 2.5 per cent increase on this year’s pay, backdated to January, and therefore we have called off the industrial action and accepted the deal,” said a delighted Medhurst.

An improved package offered by RaceTech, a company owned by the Racecourse Association, met the demands of employees protesting against cuts of up to #7,000 in expenses and allowances.

“The important thing is that the racing industry has at last agreed to pay up in order to settle the dispute,” Medhurst added.

“It is a shame it has had to go down to the wire like this, the men certainly didn’t want to strike at Royal Ascot, but I think we have behaved responsibily in the circumstances and at the same time proved our members are an important part of the racing industry.

“Also we have shown it was ridiculous of the Levy Board to separate starting stalls from its integrity services grant (passing the cost to racecourses). That is an issue we will continue to pursue.”