Telugu Film Industry threatens to go on strike

Hyderabad: Demanding a raise, the Telugu Film Industry Employees Federation (TFIEF) comprising all the 24 crafts of the industry, has served a strike notice to the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce. The Federation has given time till Friday and if APFCC does not  respond, the employees will go on strike, leading to a virtual shutdown of the industry.

“Yes, we have given the notice,” says TFIEF secretary Rajeswar Reddy. The Federation gets a renewal from the Chamber every three years with a hike in the pay scales. “It’s been almost three months and they haven’t talked about it. So we served a strike notice and they asked us to come for a meeting on Friday,” adds Reddy.

Burugupalli Sivaramakrishna, secretary of the APFCC, confirmed that they had received a letter from the Federation. “We are going to meet on Friday and then decide,” he says, adding that the talks may take two to three days.

At present, junior artistes and drivers get Rs 500, make-up men/women and costumers get Rs 800, light men get Rs 525 and production assistants get Rs 500 per day. They work from 6 in the morning to 6 in the evening.

According to a source, the Federation is demanding a 100 per cent hike in wages. “They won’t agree until they get a sufficient hike, otherwise they will go on strike,” says a source.

A few big films are in the final stages of shooting while a few others are to start shooting soon. If the talks fail, shooting for these films will come to a halt, delaying their releases thus leading to big revenue losses for the industry.