Is the Indian TV industry going to come to a grinding halt or not come 15 August morning?

Well, if the apex body of the trade and craft unions – the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) – president BN Tiwari is to be believed, it will.  Belying all statements that it would not come to pass, Tiwari posted a video on Facebook, emphatically saying that come 14 August midnight FWICE members who are TV workers will stop work.

Tiwari exhorted members to stand firm this time, as producers have not kept the terms of the contract signed with the association for the past five years on wages, and daily work hours. He called producers “agents” of TV channels” as they have continuously promised workers that they will pay the increments only when the channels and not kept to their commitment.

And he also told channels to work directly with the workers, warning them to follow practices that are followed in more developed TV markets.

“Are you telling us that humans work in more developed TV markets and animals work in the India TV ecosystem?” he asked.  “You will have to wake up. The workers have woken up. You have to change the system we are operating in. The strike will be on, and we will not budge from that. We have been patient with you for three years. Our patience has run out. The workers are looking upon the federation to stand firm this time, otherwise they will lose faith in us. We wait for our payments for 120 days. Now we will wait for another 10 days. The strike will be on until the FWICE office bearers say so.”

Even as Tiwari made the statement, the Cine Singers Association head Himanshu U Bhatt wrote to its association members saying that it was not supporting the strike. “The Cine Singers’ Association in Mumbai is in no way connected to the recently publicised decision of the strike call given by the FWICE, which is to be implemented from 15 August 2017,” he stated in a letter addressed to members.  

Bhatt has also been vociferous about the fact that FWICE had unlawfully kept the CSA out of its activities since 4 July due to “vested interests of the FWICE office bearers and other concerned representatives of the affiliate unions.” 

Read: Allied Mazdoor Union states it is not supporting FWICE strike

Shedding more light on the FWICE’s strike-calling syndrome, Bhatt in his letter declared “After two earlier unsuccessful strikes, they want to wrongfully project that their said strike call is a unanimous decision of all the affiliate unions (and even the two disaffiliated unions) which is why they are misusing these names for their own convenience and benefit.

The general secretary of the CSA managing committee further highlighted their non-cooperation with the FWICE’s strike call from 15 August by explicitly announcing,

“We therefore very strongly condemn this deliberate mischievous and unauthorised use of the CSA’s name by the FWICE office bearers in their various press releases to mislead the industry members/ producers’ association/labour commissioner/ Mumbai police authorities/government/media/the public into wrongly believing that the CSA is a participant and supporter of the said strike call!”

Meanwhile, the Indian Film and Television Producers Council (IFTPC) has managed to get an ad interim order from the Mumbai High Court which allows TV producers to continue shooting and disallows the FWICE from stopping workers from reporting to sets if they want to work. Details of the order are expected. So stay tuned in.