Thanks to the active role taken by some owners, the
syces strike that had threatened to ruin the Mysore Racing Season has been sorted out at least for the present. The Karnataka Trainers Association and the Syces Union are due to sign an agreement on Wednesday and barring a last minute hitch, there should be industrial peace for some time to come. The truncated Mysore Season will start on Thursday,
a week behind schedule.
The KTA and the Syces Union had come to a hurried agreement just before the Indian Turf Invitation Cup
weekend in March this year with the understanding that the salary of the syces would go up by about Rs 650 per month and in return, the syces had to work eight hours during which they were expected to work
"more than one horse". The BTC also took an active role in ensuring the agreement came about as they did not want their prestigious Invitation Cup weekend races to be affected.
However, within weeks of this agreement the syces refused to work on
more than one horse demanding they be paid extra for this. The KTA reverted back to the old salary, which the syces refused to take, and struck work soon after the Bangalore Summer Season ended in the second week of August, throwing everything out of gear.
As a result, the horses could not be worked for over five days and their training programme suffered. Only horses
in the charge of trainers Ganapathy, Manohar and Karan Singh were working because these trainers
had paid the increased component of the salary while the others chose to stay with the KTA directive. With the endless parleys at the Labour Commissioner’s office yielding no result and the Bangalore Turf Club not taking any active stand on the issue, a stalemate ensued. Though there was industrial unrest, the majority of workers who
reside within the confines of the BTC premises, were allowed to stay, and these syces were not allowing anyone to take out their horses even for the evening roll. The BTC authorities who took an active role in ensuring the settlement, however, backed out on their responsibility when the situation demanded that they take a pro-active role.
Horses are delicate animals despite their size and weight because they are not blessed with the digestive capacities of the human beings.
They need to be exercised regularly and being confined to a 10' x 10'
stable for extended periods often results in disease and illness. Colics
(intestinal obstructions or the build up of gas in the intestines)
become commonplace as does laminitis ( inflamation of the hooves in
which the sensitive laminae are affected). There were signs of distress in some horses and one horse from Samar Singh’s stable died due to colic. The situation did not look like being solved in a hurry thanks to all-round apathy and ego issues.
The Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association and the KTA restricted itself to talks while many owners watched the situation agitatedly. They were worried about their expensive horses which were not getting due attention in the fuss. This forced several owners to take initiative on their own to resolve the issue. A number of owners, with their friends, entered the racecourse premises and took out the horses themselves and warned the syces of dire consequences if they continued with their agitation. This seemed to have the desired effect as the syces were back at work though the turf club, by allowing this sort of an approach, indicated that the system had collapsed.
In the meanwhile, at a conciliatory meeting held between the representatives of KTA, KROA and the Syces Union at the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr.Chabbi’s office, brought about some sort of a settlement. The KTA agreed to pay the increased component of the salary as advance till the final agreement is signed. It is also believed that the syces would get Rs.40 extra per day for doing the extra horse.
In the end it was much ado about nothing for all except syces who are going to get what they set out to achieve.
