online craps casinos

Closure Likely for Embattled Meadowlands Racetrack

Posted on April 17th, 2011

News Sponsored by Go Casino

Rated 5 Stars by crapsonline.com

Read Review

Visit Casino

Download Software

————————————————

A proposal aimed at keeping the Meadowlands Racing Facility operational is instead giving more headaches for owners, patrons, and employees alike; this after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie threatened to close down the troubled racing facility should union officials not act to vote on the proposal to put it into effect. In a statement released by the governor’s office, Christie said layoff notices have been released as early as last month to more than 600 racetrack workers that are the primary group affected when simulcasting stops happening at the Meadowlands facility. Adds the statement, employees could start losing their jobs by May 12. “Apparently, one group has decided on its own to put at risk the livelihoods of many others,” said Christie. “We were patient and accommodating, but these deadlines for achieving self-sustaining horse racing are very real. This is an unfortunate outcome to say the least.”

The commotion happened after Local 137 of the AFL-CIO which represents 125 tellers at the racetrack refused to vote, Thursday night, on a proposal that would have called for paycuts as part of a broader scheme to keep the financially troubled facility operational. Christie and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority has repeatedly stressed the importance of the measure as a “last ditched attempt” to keep the facility running beyond the current 34 years of storied operations. The Meadowlands, together with the Monmouth Park racetrack, are state-owned and operated and both are reportedly losing up to $30 million in annual expenses. The state typically draws money from tax revenues by gambling casinos in Atlantic City but given that those same casinos are in the tail-end of a 31 month profit decline, city officials are finding it ever harder to keep losing facilities from siphoning off money that could be used for other programs of interest to the state. The new round of talks and the proposal comes barely 12 months after Christie first threatened to shut down both facilities to limit the bleeding of state money into an ineffective industry.

Those initial threats took a backseat when the governor called in the services of Jeffrey Gural from New York based American Racing and Entertainment LLC to develop an arrangement that would allow the tracks to be leased from the state and operated as a private venture. The deadline for that scheme was April 1 after which Gural sought a two week extension to further firm up the details. The deadline expires today. Said Pat Bartolotta, president of Local 137, the union chose to forego the voting on the proposal because “it wasn’t a contract where we sat down and negotiated. It was like a drop-dead contract.” Gural’s plan, the very same proposal currently on the lap of Local 137, calls for a 20 percent paycut on tellers – those who take bets via window booths and are in average earning $30,000 a year – as well as a 50 percent reduction in paid sick leaves, vacation leaves and personal day offs.

“It was quite a big hit,” he said. “Our local is based on seniority.” Bartolotta adds that the union is open to discussing the issues by sitting down and developing a proper collective bargaining agreement through approved methodologies like consultations, negotiations and lobbying, “not have a proposal dictated” to us without first asking what our take is on the subject. “We threw the ball in their court when we decided not to vote,’’ Bartolotta added. Bartolotta also called into question Christie’s reasoning behind accusing the union that it was risking the livelihood of others. “I don’t think it’s fair that he puts it on our backs,” remarks Bartolotta.

Gural was disappointed at the on-going status of the discussions saying he was hopeful that the concession would have allowed everybody to keep their jobs instead of a zero pay walkout as what would happen on May 12. “At this point, I think we have to assume that the Meadowlands will not reopen for racing day on May 7 unless the tellers reconsider,” he said. The cards are down and it’s all or nothing for the Meadowlands.