Chief Stipe Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 CALL TO ACTION - SAFE RACING, FAIR TREATMENT, FAIR PAY - 3 July 2021 19/06/2021 10:00 AM | Anonymous 19 June 2021 OPEN LETTER TO VICTORIAN GREYHOUND RACING PARTICIPANTS NO CONFIDENCE IN GREYHOUND RACING VICTORIA (GRV) - A call to action The Greyhound Owners Trainers and Breeders Association of Victoria Inc (GOTBA Vic) represents Victorian greyhound racing participants. We no longer have confidence in Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV). Nor should you. GOTBA Vic believes Victorian greyhound participants need to take action for fair pay, fair treatment and safe racing. Action will occur, first on 3 July 2021. We have support from large, medium and small kennels for it. Stand together to get change. Stay tuned for further details. THE GOALS ISSUE GOAL Safe racing GRV to commit in writing to a 5 and 10 year club works program, with a committed funding path, implementing key recommendation of major independent track safety reports. Fair pay - Participant returns GRV written commitment to return 50% of its gross annual income to participants annually, on and from 1 July 2022, to fix continued slide in participant share of the sport’s income. Fair treatment A commitment to introduce contaminant threshold levels across a range of commonly found feed and environment contaminants. By appointment only private property inspections in all circumstances save where a rule breach affecting greyhound welfare is known or reasonably suspected. Basis for knowledge or suspicion to be delivered in writing on inspection. A commitment to not pursue rule/policy changes without publicly released cost / benefit analysis, prior participant input and pre-change written feedback on consideration of that input. GRV management Independent external costs review of GRV administration, to be publicly released. WHY THIS IS CRITICAL For many years your GOTBA has advocated, from a participant perspective, issues that have real impact on the lives of participants and the care and welfare of their greyhounds. Since 2015, participants have driven and effected necessary change, at significant financial and other cost. For several years, but again recently, GOTBA Vic has raised concerns re track safety, sinking participant returns per race / as a share of GRV income, and participant fairness. We have done this with GRV, the Office of Racing and the Minister. Issues are well past critical. In GRV, under its current leadership, we have an arrogant, disingenuous (see table in Schedule 1) administration, hardwired to put participants last, usually under cover of faux marketing speak. You are not respected in action. Consultation is only a catchphrase. Promises of change made and then immediately forgotten are standard. GRV changes nothing in lasting form, offers more of the same and its fellow bureaucrats support that. Fair pay On participant returns, on a per race/meeting basis (the only basis that matters), Victoria has gone from first Australia wide to near last under the current administration. It is Australia’s most costly per meeting greyhound jurisdiction to run racing. Participation costs – compliance, basic feed, ancillary racing (eg catching) costs - have mushroomed in this time. When last reported, participants received LESS PER MEETING ON AVERAGE THAN 6 YEARS AGO. GRV has for seven years driven participant % returns lower to fund exploding wage bills for administrators, consultant fees and media contracts. The money is not going to clubs (particularly coursing). It has not gone to infrastructure. Participants returns have been – are - diverted to the tune of $7m -$10m per year. Major, permanent change is needed. This is not all about individual increases. In March 2021 GRV refused point blank to guarantee ANY minimum % return of its income to participants. You (therefore your greyhounds too) do NOT get a fair share. Check out the table at the end of this letter. ‘Record prizemoney’ is a charade. On prizemoney, GRV will likely return in financial year 20-21 the lowest % of its revenue to participants this century: disguised under cover of unwarranted – and unconsulted – race program expansion used to fund administrative cost blowout. This expansion strategy is bad for you, bad for your ability to care for dogs, bad for the ability to rehome more of them and bad for track safety (trial and race load on tracks with persistently long-term underfunded infrastructure). We no longer have confidence in GRV permanently giving fair pay to participants. Safe racing On track safety, GRV has failed to action many independent expert track safety recommendations. Capital expenditure was habitually deferred pre-COVID to minimise GRV losses. Despite major trainers in 2020 coming together with track preparation concerns in crisis meetings in which promises were made by GRV, we still see, for example, unsafe racing and major injuries after extensive harrowing of tracks far too close to meetings/trials. We no longer have confidence in GRV ensuring safe racing. Fair treatment On participant fairness, GRV refuses to recognise the impact of the extensive issue of feed or other cross-contamination and actively promotes rules or policies that treat participants like criminals in all but name for obviously accidental occurrences, where race and welfare impact is non-existent. It recently, with a tin ear, indicated a doubling down of this. GRV refuses to listen to and action real concerns. It routinely approves rule changes, then ‘consults’ on them. There is a distinct culture at GRV of treating participants as little more than serfs. We no longer have confidence in GRV treating participants fairly and respectfully. WHY PARTICPANT ACTION IS NEEDED GOTBA Vic has received no comfort from GRV that the current administration gets it, or participant anger. GRV tries to freeze out critics. Pushed into any corner, it makes long term, vague ‘promises’ that it bins. No change will happen…unless you make it happen. GRV will respect participants only through collective action that continues until goals are achieved. We call on Victorian participants. Nothing will change unless you make it. THE COMMITTEE GOTBA VICTORIA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomates Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 Well Pike , trainers president , asked them to basically strike when we re opened after covid , went no where . They haven't got the backbone to speak out and publically shame the management at the worst time in our history , so no chance they will strike . Way too much self interest for them to strike . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freda Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 ..and a lack of knowledge as to how the whole thing works apart from the immediate effect upon themselves. You have a more generous impression of our president, however, than I do. As far as I can see [ and he may have done plenty behind the scenes to be fair ] the only squeak he made when his own patch was impacted upon..and he has far more resources at his disposal than most. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquaman Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 They are a weak lot here in NZ, more spine in jelly fish. Here they scab on one another, and that goes for all 3 codes. They deserve all they get. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gospel of Judas Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 All talk, no action. When big political mouth pieces tell them what to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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