INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE: THE TURF Club yesterday said it is ready to negotiate with its officials who are planning to strike at the end of the month, but insisted that pre-conditions have to be taken off the table first.

The Turf Club Officials Association (TCOA) has voted to undertake strike action in 15 days in a dispute over pay and alleged cuts to the regulatory body’s integrity services.

That vote took place eight days ago after talks broke down at the Labour Relations Commission.

Since then, the TCOA, through the Mandate union, has insisted the Labour Court is the best course of action to try to resolve the dispute.

The Turf Club has been reluctant to go down that route, but its chief executive, Denis Egan, said negotiations are still possible. “We are willing to sit down across the table and try and hammer out an agreement. But pre-conditions have to be taken off that table.

“The Labour Relations Commission talks broke down because of those pre-conditions about a 3 per cent pay increase in 2012 and a return to old, restrictive agreements about extra fees for working Saturday evenings and Sundays,” he added.

The Turf Club didn’t want to comment on the strike action yesterday, but did issue a statement in response to what they described as a “great level of misinformation” put out by the TCOA and Mandate.

“Mandate says officials are being asked to take a 36.5 per cent pay cut. That is grossly misleading. The Turf Club is asking for, on average, a 7 per cent cut to last year’s salary,” the statement said.

As for a 3 per cent pay increase on January 1st, 2012, the statement said: “With the current economic uncertainty, we obviously could not agree to such a demand. While we recognise the excellent job our officials do . . . they are well remunerated for their work.

“Cost reduction does not mean a reduction in service to Irish racing. No cuts being made will impact on the integrity of Irish racing,” the statement said.