By CASEY NEILL
ABOUT half the garden and grounds workers at Sandown Racecourse have accepted voluntary redundancies over the past week.
On 15 January 34 workers they found out that Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) would contract out their jobs from 1 February.
The announcement followed six months of enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) negotiations.
“You feel empty,” one worker told the Journal.
“If we lose our jobs, what the hell are we going to do?”
Workers’ contracts include a clause banning them from speaking to the media so the Journal is withholding his identity.
“We’ve got absolutely zero trust in management,” he said.
“We reckon they’re sneaky and underhanded.”
He said workers were ambushed with voluntary redundancy documents, offering a 10 per cent bonus on top of the EBA-stipulated redundancy payout and entitlements.
“It was calculated, because they made up the excuse that they only found out on the Wednesday, and the meeting was the Thursday. It was called late in the afternoon, like 3.30pm,” he said.
“If they knew on the Wednesday, they could have had the decency to tell us early in the day.
“They had the documents made up, ready to give to us.
“It takes them more than just the day to put those documents together.”
Two workers have given more than 40 years’ service to the track and many more have 20-plus years under their belts.
“All this club thinks about is money, not the trauma and stress that they cause,” the worker said.
“They’re quoted as saying they’re losing money in the racing industry.
“They raised the Caulfield Cup stakes by $1 million and they hold 30 or so races at Sandown each year.
“If they’re losing money, why are they raising the prize money and why are they putting their hand up for so many races?”
Another worker told the Journal that the MRC had offered a zero per cent pay rise over three years during negotiations “which basically equates to a pay cut”.
He said the MRC encouraged employees to apply for a job with the contractor.
“The pay will be half the money we’re earning now and the conditions won’t be the same,” he said.
“We fought for years to get these conditions and pay.”
The worker said industrial action was likely but the Sandown Australia Day Races would be safe.
“You’ve got to go through all the rigmarole. You have to apply with Fair Work for protected action,” he said.
Australian Workers Union (AWU) Victorian secretary Ben Davis said the union would lodge a dispute with Fair Work and call an emergency meeting of delegates from all metropolitan Melbourne racecourses to “talk through a campaign”.
An MRC spokesman said the decision followed a broader 18-month efficiency review to tackle rising losses in its racing business, which topped $6 million per annum in recent years.
He said MRC was forced to explore other options because the AWU made unreasonable demands.
