Reports: Effort advances to unionize N.Y. backstretch workers

An effort to unionize New York backstretch workers gained momentum after being certified to begin collective-bargaining talks with at least nine trainers.

Paulick Report and Daily Racing Form reported on the certification Thursday.

The effort is being led by Gilberto Mendoza, vice president of Local 1430 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in White Plains, N.Y. He has collected signatures of hundreds of backstretch workers at Saratoga and Belmont Park who work for 52 trainers, according to the reports.

The certification by New York's Public Employment Relations Board allows negotiations with at least nine trainers at New York Racing Association tracks.

Mendoza said he will seek a living wage, sick pay and vacation pay, as well as other benefits.

“What we’re looking for is a contract that is fair for the workers and fair for the trainers,” Mendoza told DRF.

Seven of the trainers have hired attorney Richard Ziskin to represent them, according to the DRF report. He is a labor attorney who was recommended by the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.

Trainer Linda Rice is one of the trainers who received a petition seeking negotiations.

“I’ve never been through this before, so I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen,” she told DRF.

Another trainer contacted by Mendoza is John Kimmel, according to Paulick Report.

“I don’t want to alienate anyone, but I think they misrepresented themselves somewhat when they talked to my help,” Kimmel told Paulick Report. “Some of my employees have been with me 30 years or longer. They’re taken care of pretty well.”

Mendoza told DRF the negotiations will take place in November and will apply to the trainers represented by Ziskin. That contract will then be used as a template for other trainers in New York, he said.