1,300 Going, Execs Pass Pay

Published: March 29, 2010 02:08 pm EDT

Things are grim on Broadway, where New York City Off-Track Betting corporation went into crisis mode, threatening to close its 66 betting shops in the city

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Pink slips went out to more than 1,300 employees, and president Ray Casey announced that executives and expensive consultants would forego pay until New York’s sluggish legislature takes some action to help the dire situation.

“In the days ahead,” Casey said, “over 1,300 hardworking OTB employees will receive termination notices in the mail because there remains no consensus on the legislation required to keep this vital economic engine alive. Until a compromise is forged that saves these jobs, we will suspend our pay.”

It seems likely that “the legislation required,” if passed, will not be to the liking of New York racetracks. Yonkers Raceway and the New York Racing Association already are looking at huge losses as OTB struggles in Chapter 9 bankruptcy and its cash position deteriorates.

Even New York’s besieged governor, David Paterson, called for the legislature to “stop the cat calls and get to work.” The state Senate was scheduled to take up an emergency budget plan today.

(Harness Tracks of America)

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Comments

This is another thing that is very unfortunate in life, being terminated in the job that you love doing. In any downturn in the economy, there are likely to be a lot more bankruptcy filings than normal - that's the way things work. It isn't only for people that experience job loss and can't keep up on underwater mortgages, either - some of the largest corporations and companies have filed also. Chrysler, GM, and Six Flags all filed for bankruptcy, GM and Chrysler asked for payday advances from the government to float them - and got them. So did Wall Street. What does this mean? Well, the big one is that you've to budget and spend smartly all the time. You can't undertake excessive debt and maintain reckless practices.

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