JOCKEYS’ SHOW OF INTENT

By Graham Potter | Monday, March 14, 2011

Punters on Brisbane racing were left in limbo at the start of the day at the Doomben on Saturday when the jockeys held back from going out to ride in first race as they made a stand regarding their request for a pay increase.

On-going negotiations in recent weeks between Racing Queensland and the jockeys have failed to reach any compromise and the show of force by the jockeys on Saturday was a direct sequel to that lack of progress at finalizing the situation.

Des O’Keeffe, the General Manager of the Australian Jockeys’ Association was on hand to oversee the jockey’s ‘protest’.

O’Keeffe gave this insight shortly before the jockeys finally emerged to get racing underway on the day.

“What the situation is … the Queensland Jockeys’ Association has had a log of claims with Queensland Racing to negotiate a riding fee and other benefits to riders in this state.

“Currently riders in the state are being paid $147.00 a ride. They are the lowest paid in Australia.

“The offer is to take the riding fee from the first of July to $152.00. That will still see them as the worst paid jockeys in Australia.

“At the jockeys meeting today, they are absolutely united in their resolve that being paid $147.00 (a ride) currently with an offer from Racing Queensland to go to $152.00 plus CPI is totally unacceptable.

“They don’t deserve to be the worst paid riders in Australia. They deserve to be on a parity with other riders.

“They suffer some of the greatest travel expenses. Their costs are great.

“According to Queensland’s Racing figures, eighty-three percent of your Queensland riders gross $50 000 or less. Twelve percent gross between $50 000 to $100 000 and five percent of Queensland jockeys earn in excess of $100 000 … five percent.

“A rider riding at Flemington today and going for one ride will get $253.00. A rider at Doomben today, with one ride, will get $147.00.

“There is something clearly wrong with Queensland Racing’s approach to jockeys.

The figure that Queensland Jockeys are asking for is $170.00 per ride.

“We call on Queensland Racing … there is a board meeting set for Monday week … we call on them to bring that meeting forward, so that these jockeys can do what they are here to do … and that is ride and take the risks that they do.

“As so many of you know, it is the most dangerous land-bases occupation in Australia. You know they are followed by an ambulance every day they go to work.

“They deserve to be paid an appropriate amount in keeping with the job around the rest of Australia.

“The jockeys have resolved to go ahead with the race-meeting today. They are acutely aware of their responsibilities and obligations to industry participants … meaning trainers, owners and especially punters.

“We want to races to go ahead. We don’t want to do this on race-day, but we need Racing Queensland to actually take some responsibility for the welfare of these participants.

“What we are calling on is parity across Australia so that these riders are rewarded in the same way as their counterparts in other states.

“What happens next is up to Racing Queensland. The ball is in their court.

“We have made it clear how seriously we regard this. I’ve never seen a group of riders … and I’ve been in my position many years now … I’ve never seen a group of riders so united about what they believe is a reasonable outcome.

“We haven’t ruled anything (action-wise) in or out. I can’t rule anything in or out about what may happen in the future if we don’t get some satisfaction and some reasonable outcomes as far as these negotiations go.

“We’d like this resolved as soon as possible.

“I hope the owners, trainers and race-goers haven’t been too inconvenienced. The race-meeting will go ahead.

“I hope that they understand that this is a really critical issue.

“There is an imbalance and it needs to be addressed. These riders have gradually just dropped and dropped and dropped back (from the rest of the riders in Australia). It is time to catch up.

“Isn’t it ironic that they had a trainers’ meeting on Thursday and we have this today. The participants are saying, enough is enough.”

Neither Racing Queensland nor any of the Brisbane Racing Club management were given any advance notice of the pending action.

Chief Steward Wade Birch explains: “There was certainly no notice given to me. The first time I saw Des O’Keeffe was when I walked to lunch this morning.

“There was no notice given to Stephen Ferguson as the CEO of the Brisbane Racing Club that his meeting might be affected.”

That being the case no relevant person with negotiating powers from Racing Queensland was in attendance and thus no concrete solution in terms of moving the position forward could be forthcoming on the day.

In essence it was the jockeys making a public statement after behind closed doors negotiations had failed to reach a settlement.

The battle lines have been drawn.

For the record this is the current state of play regarding riding fees throughout the country.

$200.00 - Northern Territory ($25.00 Barrier trial).
$169.00 - Victoria ($53.00).
$157.50 - New South Wales ($52.12).
$155.00 - South Australia ($30.00).
$155.00 - Tasmania ($41.50).
$150.00 - Western Australia ($35.00).
$147.00 - Queensland ($37.50).

O'Keeffe