The Wrong Side of the Tracks

After The Times reported on lamentable living and working conditions for backstretch employees at California racetracks, the chairman of the state Horse Racing Commission suggested that the issue be allowed to “run its course,” adding he didn’t know whether the commission was responsible for regulating conditions of stable hands. But another member argued emphatically that the commission should look into the reports. What’s amazing is that she had to argue for such an obviously correct viewpoint.

For too many years, the state commission has been the friend and protector of the racing industry rather than an unbiased regulator. And state legislators have been far too reluctant to investigate these problems themselves. Now, official neglect is coming to an end on the backstretch. The state Industrial Welfare Commission is probing wage and hour conditions, and health authorities have investigated unsanitary and substandard housing at some tracks.

Some members of the racing fraternity are bent on improving the lot of an estimated 4,000 workers who toil mostly out of sight and, apparently, out of mind. Former state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, the president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, told a legislative hearing: “Our owners want to go to the backside . . . with pride. And that has not been the case.”

The track workers have been exempt from state housing standards and labor laws for the past 25 years. Many live in squalid equipment rooms and are not eligible for overtime pay even though they may be required to work every day for weeks or months at a time.

Whatever the tracks and horse owners do to improve conditions is welcome. So is action by state regulators. But the Legislature must make certain that improvements are made and inspected.

Assemblymen Herb Wesson (D-Culver City), Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) are sponsoring AB 2760 to extend labor and housing protections and union bargaining rights to track workers. Wesson says he is seeking to negotiate a compromise among all parties while the bill awaits action in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Consensus is fine so long as it doesn’t result in a weaker bill. The Legislature needs to be sure stable hands receive better living and working conditions.