TN Film employees body calls off strike, to resume work

Chennai: The Film Employees Federation of South India today called off their two-day stir on a wage revision issue and announced resumption of work from tomorrow.

FEFSI president R K Selvamani said it has decided to resume work in deference to the advice of senior actors Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, assurances of film producers, directors and several bodies of the film industry.

Notably, the state government has assured that it would facilitate tripartite talks to resolve the issue with the Tamil Film Producers' Council (TFPC), he said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said "our appeal is that all employees belonging to the (total) 23 affiliated bodies of FEFSI should be utilised without discrimination," adding "please do not divide us."

He said they apprised the Labour Commmissioner on the stand-off with the film producers body which had announced that "pay will be cut," and "will not work" with employees under FEFSI.

"We requested the labour authorities to find a solution and the tripartite talks proposed by them for today has been now deferred to tomorrow in view of the unavailability of TFPC office-bearers," he said.

FEFSI chief said initially the producers body was unwilling for talks.

Since TFPC had relented and now agreed to thrash out the matter through parleys, he said it was only appropriate for FEFSI to reciprocate.

Hence "we are announcing resumption of work on a positive note," he added.

Selvamani, also a noted yesteryear film director, said "we have no ego," citing Rajinikanth favouring a resolution sans ego.

He said FEFSI had requested the government that TFPC chief Vishal should participate in parleys to resolve the issue.

Selvamani had called on Rajinikanth yesterday whose upcoming 'Kaala' movie was also affected because of the stir.

Days ago, the shoot of a Tamil film was disrupted when FEFSI members reportedly sought a hike in their wages, prompting TFPC to declare that the producers were free to hire employees of their choice to carry on their work.

It had also said wages should be paid according to scales fixed by the producers' council.

Irked by this, FEFSI had announced that only those registered with it should be employed by the producers.

It announced that it would go on strike from August one over wage revision demanding a re-negotiation of 'general conditions,' which covers aspects including wages.