Hyderabad:
Telugu film industry, the second largest producer of films after Bollywood in the country, has come to a standstill as the strike by 15,000 workers entered second day on Friday.
The workers have struck work demanding better wages and improvement in working conditions following the failure of talks with the Film Chamber of Commerce. The dispute widened following the decision of the producers to hire the service of any worker irrespective of whether he or she was a member of the State Film Industry Employees Federation or not.
The strike was resulting in huge financial losses to producers as many big banner films were affected.
The federation has rejected the stand of the producers saying it will hurt the interest of the local employees and workers who spend money to get registered with the body.
Producers Council has refused to accept the argument. “Talent should be the sole criteria for giving work,” said T. Prasanna, secretary of the council. “It is not fair to demand that only members should be hired for the services”.
On the issue of wage revision, the State Film Chamber of Commerce said it has recently announced a hike of 32 per cent, exempting the low budget films. But the workers were demanding that this should cover low budget films, too, as they put in the equal amount of work.
