Six union employees hijack Fairmount Meet?

[Saratoga_Mike]

It appears that due to a dispute with six (yes only six) union employees Fairmount Park will only race 3 days this yr.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/54709/fairmount-park-to-race-only-three-days

[Milkshaker]

The numbers make no sense at all...

According to DRF:
"The board's staff calculates that it costs about $2,210 daily to pay the six officials."

Just who are these six offficials? Stewards? Commission bookkeepers? Commission inspectors? Pisscatchers in the test barn?

Just for the sake of argument, let's assume they all get paid equally (Which I know they don't). That's $2,210 daily/6 = $368 day rate.

By extension, if it was a year-rond salaried gig (which I know it's not) each of these people would make $95,766 annually...That's WAY out of line for administrative ractrack workers employed by any state.

So in 2009, these workers got paid $47,840 each for working 130 mandated dates. Remember, though, that Fairmount only raced 57 dates. That's a LOT of down time, even by racetrack and/or state employee standards. (Plus: The standard # of working days in a year is 52 x 5 = 260 for most of us working stiffs).

Pretty nice job if you can get it. And these people were actually angered that they would be asked to take a pay cut for 2010?

On top of that, the DRF story reports: "American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees had rejected a board proposal offering an additional 13 days of county fair work, as well as guaranteed health insurance through June 2011."

Someone please explain to me what these officials actually do that commands such a huge chunk of money at a tiny little backwater track like Fairmount Park.

[OTM Al]

Read the article. It tells you ecxactly who they are

[Robert Goren]

It sounds to me like someplace that wants to keep it's license, but not run races. Are they trying to sell? Hoping for slots? There more to this than some union contract for 6 people.

[bigmack]

Read the article. It tells you ecxactly who they are
Union idiots.

Not as if I give two shits about Fairmount but I'd fire them as quickly as Reagan did of the air traffic controllers.

[illinoisbred]

It sounds to me like someplace that wants to keep it's license, but not run races. Are they trying to sell? Hoping for slots? There more to this than some union contract for 6 people.
They have to run (even if its just 3 days) to get their share of the casino withholdings which legally should have been dispersed by now but because of the wide ring of corruption surrounding the Blago years the casino operators have sought court intervention.

[rrbauer]

I don't think that they really wanted to run anyway. The union flap is a convenient excuse.