The Telugu Producers' Council, which appealed to the workers to return and agreed to hold negotiations, termed the strike illegal.
Published Jun 23, 2022 | 1:15 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 22, 2022 | 11:01 AM
Workers stage a protest outside the Telugu Film Industry Federation office on Wednesday, 22 June, 2022. (The South First/Ajay Tomar)
Around 20,000 members of the Telugu Film Industry Employees Federation went on an indefinite strike on Monday, 22 June, in what the producers called a move that was costing them lakhs of rupees.
With this protest, held at the Federation office in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, the cinema workers are demanding a 45-percent hike in daily wages.
The wages, which have to be revised after three years, have not been raised since 2018 by the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce, claimed the workers.
The cine-workers — from makeup artists to junior artists to drivers — started gathering outside the association office early on Monday morning.
The workers’ union, comprising 24 crafts of cinema, chanted slogans outside the federation office.
“We are protesting because the film producers did not respond to the numerous letters we sent them from the federation. We have been awaiting their response for six months. But since there is no response from them, we decided to call the strike,” said Cine TV and Junior Artists’ Association President D Swamy Goud.
Workers Federation President V Anil Kumar shared similar views about their unaddressed long-pending demand.
He pointed out that many producers delay the pay of workers as well.
“Even when the budget of Telugu films has increased exponentially after the industry recovered from Covid-19, workers’ pay has remained low. Many actors and senior artists have raised their fees, but there is no increase in our pay. Prices of movie tickets have also gone up. This is an exploitation of the workers. Nobody understands their agony,” Kumar said.
Refusing to settle for anything less than a 45-percent hike in the wages, he added that the federation would keep fighting for the rights of the workers.
“We will decide the next course of action after we discuss it with all the members. We will work only for those who will pay us hiked wages. We will not work for others,” said Kumar.
The workers make from ₹500 to ₹1,500 per day, depending on the kind of work they do.
However, they said that there are no definite work timings either.
“Whenever there is a shooting, we work close to 14-15 hours a day, from early morning to late at night. With the rising prices of essentials every day, it’s getting hard to survive,” said Mahila Worker Unions’ President T Lalitha, who works as a cook and helper.
Meanwhile, a source in the workers’ union told South First: “Bollywood film producers, who are shooting a big actor’s movie in Telangana, agreed to the 45-percent hike, but Telugu film producers have not agreed to our demand yet.”
The members of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce and Film Producers’ Council on Wednesday reached a consensus on “holding negotiations” with the workers’ federation, but also called the strike unacceptable.
“Workers have stopped shooting without giving us a 15-day strike notice. This causes huge losses to the industry. Who will pay for those losses? They should answer that first,” said the council’s President C Kalyan, while also appealing to the workers to return to work.
He added that, according to the councils’ calculations, the current wages are valid till May 2023.
“Till then, the old scale is implemented. Shootings came to a halt for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Everyone suffered at that time. But instead of negotiating the issues, the leaders of the workers’ federation are causing suffering to the workers.”
Meanwhile, “a total of 28 shootings were stopped today due to an unprecedented strike,” Kalyan told the reporters.
These include Chiranjeevis’ Waltair Veerayya and Bholaa Shankar, as well as and Prabhas’ Salaar and RC 15.