Even as the 25,000-strong Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) continued their strike for the second day hoping for a renegotiation of ‘General Conditions’ which decides a day’s wage, the Tamil Film Producers’ Council (TFPC) on Wednesday said it can only offer a ‘take it or leave it’ deal.
FEFSI president R.K. Selvamani met senior actor Rajinikanth to reportedly explain FEFSI’s position on the strike as the actor’s next, Kaala, was also stopped. In a press release, actor Rajinikanth urged both FEFSI and TFPC to bring this strike to an end quickly.
“If there is a word I dislike, it is ‘strike.’ As a senior actor in the industry, I wish that both FEFSI and TFPC discuss the issue without any ego and bring this strike to an end,” said Rajinikanth.
TFPC unrelenting
However, TFPC stuck to its original stance. Speaking to The Hindu, TFPC treasurer S.R. Prabhu categorically said that the members of the council were convinced that the terms presented by TFPC are fair and final. “We are ready to work with FEFSI the next moment they agree to our terms,” he said.
Few weeks ago, TFPC president Vishal had sent a 14-page document listing out the terms of ‘General Conditions.’
While Mr. Selvamani insisted that they had agreed to 40% of TFPC’s terms, he maintained that the rest of the conditions had to be thrashed out.
Asked if TFPC was ready to holdtalks, Mr. Prabhu said, “Every time we (TFPC and FEFSI) agree on something, they go back on their word the next day. This time, we don’t want to go down that route. They have to accept our terms because it is fair. They cannot insist that we have to continue something because it has been the case for 40 years. That is not acceptable.”
Reiterating that the council members aren’t facing mammoth losses as is being claimed by FEFSI, he added, “In an industry that has a 10% hit-rate, producers are faced with huge losses. Those who aren’t spending money on production don’t face any losses. We lose nothing because of this strike,” he said.
Mr. Selvamani said that several issues were left unresolved for more than nine years.
“We told Mr. Rajinikanth that it wasn’t the FEFSI or TFPC which had directly caused the current situation but unresolved issues for the last nine years. He heard us out and told us that stopping work would never be a solution and that it will affect the Tamil film industry, which is already going through a lot of issues,” he said.
According to him, around 10,000 workers went without work on the second day of the strike. Around 5,000 daily wage workers were directly affected.
“We are once again reiterating that we have no issues with regard to wages and the producers have been following what was decided upon a couple of years ago. It is only the general conditions which need to be decided and the sooner the producers council decides to sit and talk about the issue, the better it will be,” he added.