Sources in the Jockeys Guild said last night that a nationwide walkout on Jan. 1 has become a real possibility and that riders are being alerted to prepare for it.
"Obviously, they [the track owners] don't want to work with us in good faith and there certainly appears that there is going to be a walkout," said Jimmy Edwards, local manager for the guild at the Middle Atlantic tracks. "I've never seen the riders more unified."
Yesterday, track owners rejected the jockeys' two latest proposals and said that when their current three-year contract with the riders is up Dec. 31, they no longer will feel any responsibility to pay the jockeys for their media rights.
"On Jan. 1, we will put into place an increased accident plan which raises coverage 100 percent for the riders, but at that time, we no longer are under any obligation to make payments to the guild [for the jockeys' media rights] and have no intention of doing so," said a statement released last night by Brian McGrath, commissioner for the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, the organization that represents most of North America's major racetracks.
"We have nothing else to offer," added Chris Scherf, the TRA's executive vice president.
"If they [the TRA] don't think we have media rights, then I suggest on every simulcast race, the jockeys wear masks or their faces be blacked out and, instead of their names being on the program, they put down a question mark," Edwards said. "The TRA better start realizing the significance of this group of athletes."
TRA staff member Conrad Sobkowiak said the organization will make a list today of member tracks that will be running in January and alert them to the possibility of a job action by the jockeys.
Currently, track owners pay about $1.7 million a year to the guild for the jockeys' media rights, but the jockeys want that figure increased to roughly $9 million to provide what they describe as "decent health care and other benefits" for their members.
"We can sum up this issue in two words: Jimmy Thornton," Edwards said, referring to the Maryland jockey who died from injuries 10 days ago in a race in Charles Town, W.Va. "When he died, his family received $5,000 in death benefits from the TRA. Because he was a member, the family received a another $25,000 from the guild. But that total figure should be $100,000 to give that family and ones like it a decent chance to make a life after such a tragedy."
The issue of how to raise the extra money to increase the fund is the crux of the contract dispute.
The TRA has rejected a plan by the guild to take one-tenth of 1 percent of the betting revenues from the tracks. That money would be collected by adding 0.1 percent to the tracks' takeout from each betting dollar and turning it over to the guild. It would decrease the amount of money returned to bettors. The TRA has repeatedly said the fans should not have to pay for the jockeys' health insurance.
Yesterday, the TRA also rejected two alternate plans proposed by the guild. The first one would add one race at each track around the country and turn the track's share of the betting proceeds over to the guild.
The TRA would guarantee the participation of its tracks and if the amount raised failed to reach the equivalent of 0.1 percent of the annual handle, each track would be asked on a pro rata basis to make up the difference. The guild would assume the responsibility of guaranteeing participation in the same sort of plan by non-TRA tracks.
Under the second plan, the guild proposed that the TRA tracks hold six races annually on dates selected by the jockeys. The guild would guarantee that a minimum of $2.5 million would be generated from the proceeds of the six races, but that the tracks would have to kick in an additional $6.5 million to reach the total of $9 million that the jockeys say they need to fund the benefits package.
On Dec. 9, the TRA made its "best and final offer" to the jockeys, saying that it would continue the $1.7 million payments and increase accident and weekly disability coverage by 100 percent.
McGrath said that he viewed yesterday's proposal by the guild "as a rejection of the TRA's best and final offer. Since negotiations began in August, the guild has demanded one-tenth of 1 percent. This proposal [made yesterday] is
effectively the same demand in disguise."
McGrath then went on to withdraw the current $1.7 million paid for the jockeys' media rights as of Jan. 1.
However, track owners have agreed to double accident coverage from $50,000 to $100,000 and double weekly disablity payments from $100 to $200. Those costs are picked up by policies the tracks hold with independent insurance companies, separate from the money that is paid the guild and used for health care and life insurance programs.
NOTES: When the Experimental Free Handicap is released next month, the highest-ranked Maryland-bred 2-year-old will probably be the filly Urbane. On Saturday, the daughter of Citidancer finished second, by a nose, to Serena's Song, in the Grade I Starlet Stakes at Hollywood Park. After that race, Urbane ranks among the nation's top juvenile fillies. The division is headed by Flanders, who narrowly defeated Serena's Song in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies stakes. According to her breeder, Frank Zureich of Middleburg, Va., Urbane is scheduled to start next in the Grade I Las Virgenes Stakes and Grade I Santa Anita Oaks at Santa Anita Park and might then try the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in May.