10,000 Tollywood workers on strike - TeluguPeople.com News

All activities in the Telugu film industry came to a stop as close to 10,000 employees declared a week-long bandh demanding better pay and working conditions.

The issue of wages and working conditions has been going on between the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) and producers for nearly seven years. However, they are yet to reach an agreement.

'The industry is going through a huge lull at the moment and the revenue being generated is just not enough. At this stage, the demand for increased wages is completely unreasonable,' said T Prasanna Kumar, general secretary, Telugu Film Producers' Council.

At the moment, a light man earns Rs 525 a day for a 12-hour shift, which begins right from leaving home. However, employees are now demanding Rs 800, which the producers feel is a bit unreasonable.

'We agreed to raise their wages to Rs 675, but they are not satisfied. If you compare this with the Kannada film industry where lightmen are paid Rs 375, we are offering much more,' said Prasanna.

Similarly, dancers/stuntmen are paid Rs 2,550 on a two-day shift basis, but the producers want the payment mode to be shifted to a one-day basis and instead pay Rs 1,275. They feel that they unnecessarily have to pay wages for two days when sometimes stuntmen just work for a few hours on a dance/action sequence.

With respect to working conditions, the employees have demanded shortening of the working hours from 12 to 8 hours as per the labour rules.

However, Prasanna pointed out that if one goes by the Labour Act, they will receive wages of only around Rs 350 to Rs 400 and will be paid extra if they clock in more time.

'Apart from paying them daily wages, we also provide them transport to reach the shoot location, as well as food. If they go as per the labour Act and want the working hours to be reduced to eight hours, they must arrange for their own transport and food,' Prasanna stated.

Industry technicians have claimed that producers are being insensitive towards their well-being and stated that if they can pay crores of rupees to actors and directors, surely they can spare a few extra hundred rupees for them.

Several films, including certain big-budget films are likely to be affected as a result of this strike. 'We are trying to settle this issue amicably and we urge the employees not to be unreasonable,' Prasanna added.