The Producers’ Council of Tamil cinema met today for a specially convened general body meeting at the Film Chamber in Chennai to take certain very important decisions regarding the cooperation being extended to the various technical associations of south Indian cinema. The meeting was held in response to certain resolutions passed by the South Indian Film Employees Union three days back.
The employees union had met three days back and decided upon a new wage structure for all its members. The resolution was passed unanimously and the producers were henceforth expected to conform to the new wage structure. Responding to this resolution, the Producers’ Council has said that the employees union had violated the code of deciding upon new wage structures. Usually, such decisions are taken in the presence of all technical unions of southern cinema along with the producers’ council. But, here, the employees union had decided upon a new wage structure without any consultation whatsoever.
The Producers’ Council has today decided that it will no longer concur with the existing agreements with the employees union regarding wage structures and other guidelines. Instead, the council would allow its producers to employ anyone of their choice to work for their movies. The council would also create a new association for such employees. The newly formed association would then have the right to jointly decide the wage structure with the Producers’ Council, which will have to be adhered to by all producers of the union. Any defaulters will be strongly dealt with and no cooperation would be extended to them. This decision was unanimously supported by more than 300 producers present at today’s meeting.
