(BELMONT & SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK) - International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1430, whose Members service horse racing tracks’ communications systems at Belmont Park and at the Saratoga Racetrack, is moving to Unionize hundreds of Workers who care for the thoroughbred horses at those two New York tracks.

“We always have seen the Backstretch Workers and that has been our common thread, that they should be taken care of the way that they’re supposed to,” Local 1430 Organizer Gilberto “Tito” Mendoza said.

Over the last two years, Mendoza and his team have been collecting card check signatures from Backstretch Workers at both racetracks.

“We need to guarantee these Workers receive their rightful wages so they no longer have to rely on local food drives, have better living conditions without bedbugs and rats, receive health care services and are treated with dignity and respect,” Mendoza told Albany’s WGRB-TV.

There are between 110 and 124 active stables at Belmont and Saratoga - combined, depending on the time of year.

Each employs up to 50 Workers in several job classifications.

“Grooms are the ones that do, in my eyes, the hardest job,” Mendoza said. “They have to do everything: Bedding, feeding, watching, cleaning, helping with shoes and medicine.”

There are also the Walkers who escort horses and jockeys to the track, along with Exercise Riders and Outriders.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: N.Y. Local Targets Racetrack Workers for Membership - International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

Photos Courtesy Of The IBEW.