We want to get rid of the seven-day workweek — groom’s president
Fabian “Tallyman” White, who was recently re-elected unopposed as president of the Grooms’ Association of Jamaica (GAJ), says that while he is satisfied with the work his organisation has done over the years, there are still some pressing issues to address going forward.
White has been president of the GAJ since returning from Canada in 2014. He was also president before migrating to Canada in 2004, where he was engaged as a full-time groom at the Woodbine racetrack in Toronto and at Fort Erie.
Always an advocate for the improvement of his colleagues, White, in a press conference after his re-election in the Trainers’ Room on Thursday, February 8, 2024, said that one of the issues he indicated that needed to be addressed was ensuring that his colleagues get a day off to spend more time at home with family members.
“Our main priority that we want to do is to get rid of the seven-day workweek. We can’t be working every day, especially on public holidays, and we are not even getting anything for it. We are working public holidays for nothing. We need to find some ways to get a day off for the grooms,” White told the
Jamaica Observer’s The Supreme Racing Guide.
Another concern cited by the president is that grooms are being paid while trainers are refusing to submit a pay stub to demonstrate their salary, which White stated must be altered.
“We need to address the issue of not getting a payslip each time we get paid from the trainers. This is proving very difficult, and so we are now willing to go to the Jamaica Racing Commission to get this sorted out because we really need the slip. Everywhere you go and do some kind of transaction, they are asking for a payslip, and so this needs to be addressed,” he said.
“I was elected unopposed as president again for another three years. I feel great, which means that I have been doing something good. I think they [the grooms] need another raise in pay; that’s why they kept me as their boss,” White ended.