

Track owner Ron Geary says concessions are needed to help the ailing track survive long enough to find out if Kentucky voters will agree next year to allow racetracks to operate casinos to boost revenues.
Members of Local 541 of the Service Employees International Union voted down the track's contract offer by a vote of approximately 40-3, union officials said. The old contract expired late Monday night.
Union officials started making plans for setting up picket lines at the three entrances to the track property, such as consulting with Kentucky State Police about where picket lines could safely and legally be set up. Picket lines would be set up around 8:30 a.m. today and remain in place until about 8 p.m., Brenda Lynn, vice president of SEIU Local 541, said.
As of presstime, no settlement had been reached. But Herman Fehler, president of the Louisville-based union, said picket lines would probably be put on hold if a last-minute tentative agreement was reached. Any settlement would ultimately require the approval of rank-and-file members.
"The main thing is, we're still in negotiations," Bob Jackson, the track's longtime director of operations, said Monday. "Mr. Geary spoke to Herman Fehler last Friday evening and Saturday morning. Herman was going to get back with Ron to discuss some other ideas. "We anticipate maybe trying to get something together" to avoid a strike, Jackson said.
"That would certainly be my preference," Geary said later. "But so far, the union has not come one inch. I haven't heard from Herman, so I'm not very optimistic myself," he said. "It's their call," Geary said. "They'll be the ones walking out and abandoning their jobs."
"Until tomorrow (today) comes, nobody knows," Jackson said. "But we will be open as usual," strike or not.
"January to March is always our slowest time anyway," Geary said.
Fehler said he has tried to encourage Geary to extend the previous contract for one year, while Geary said he has asked the union to approve concessions for one year.
Either way, they said, that would provide time to see if Kentucky voters approve a possible referendum next November to allow casino-style gambling at racetracks. If Geary receives a casino license, the additional revenues from expanded gaming could erase the approximately $2 million that Fehler said Ellis Park is losing per year.
"The bottom line is, we want him to wait," the union president said. "We would like a one-year extension to get us through the referendum vote."
About 75 clerks work at the track during the live summer meeting, but only a few clerks work during the rest of the year. The union also represents about 10 valets who assist jockeys.
Gov. Steve Beshear is expected to ask the 2008 General Assembly to approve legislation authorizing a voter referendum.
If no late-night deal was reached and the parimutuel clerks go on strike, Fehler said supporters of unions and union members likely won't cross their picket line. The union president said reduced revenues could pressure Geary into presenting a better contract offer.
But Geary said reducing the costs of parimutuel clerks -- Fehler has said the concessions would amount to $300,000 per year -- is one of several steps he has taken to cutting overhead.
"We in effect laid of 75 percent of our year-round work force when we closed the backside training center down," Geary said. "And there have been other sacrifices."
"We're just trying to salvage an 86-year-old racetrack," he said.
Geary said the $15.80-per-hour wages in the last contract is far in excess of the $11 that clerks are paid at the Indiana Downs off-track betting parlor in Evansville.
The $12 offer he made "is more than what my competitor is paying," he said.
But union officials say Ellis pays less than at other tracks such as Churchill Downs and Keeneland.
In the days leading up to the contract deadline, tensions at the track began to build.
Abe Holtz, a 43-year veteran clerk at Ellis Park, said he was told Saturday by Jackson to not come to work Sunday or Monday, though Holtz would be paid for those days.
Jackson "said I was soliciting (track customers) all day" seeking their support for the union, said Holtz, a member of the Local 541 Executive Committee who is the highest-ranking union officer at the track
Holtz disputed that he was creating tension at work. "I'm probably the ideal employee," he said. "I'm dependable. I give good service. They don't get complaints on me."
On Saturday, he said, "People came up to me all day and said they supported the union. I'd say, 'Thank you for your support.' "
Holtz said Jackson told him he would be removed from the premises if he came back to the track.
He called the move "an obvious attempt to weaken the union in the workplace by removing my representation."
Holtz also claimed that Jackson shredded some union documents and that a replacement worker was at the track Saturday, observing how the clerks did their work.
Jackson declined to comment on such matters.
(courierpress.com)