South Indian Film Employees' Federation moves Madras HC over underpayment to technicians
Chennai: The simmering dispute over wages for film technicians in Tamil Nadu reached the Madras High Court on Monday, with the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) alleging that technicians are being pushed to the margins even as leading actors earn up to Rs 300 crore per film.
Appearing before Justice K. Kumaresh Babu, FEFSI counsel G. Mohanakrishnan accused members of the Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) of trying to 'snatch the livelihood' of local technicians by recruiting crews from other States to finish ongoing productions.
He said technicians in the State often earn less than Rs 3,000 a day despite the industry's soaring top-line salaries.
TFPC's counsel Krishna Ravindran countered that most of the council's members are small-budget film-makers, not corporate studios, and insisted the producers are 'equally concerned' about worker welfare.
He pointed out that TFPC and FEFSI have traditionally signed a wage-fixing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) every three years, the last of which, inked in 2022, expired on March 9 this year.
According to Ravindran, relations deteriorated when FEFSI, suspecting TFPC of backing a breakaway technicians' body called the Tamil Nadu Thiraipada Thozhilalargal Sammelanam, issued a non-cooperation directive on April 2 to all 23 of its affiliated craft unions.
The order, he said, triggered walk-outs on sets and 'significant monetary losses' to producers as projects stalled.
Ravindran added that FEFSI has since begun collaborating with a separate producers' faction, the Tamil Film Active Producers Association (TFAPA), prompting the State's Information and Publicity Minister M. P. Saminathan to step in and convene talks.
Justice Babu observed that, with the MoU no longer in force, the court could not compel FEFSI members to work on TFPC-backed films.
At the same time, he noted that individual producers remained free to sue crew members for breach of existing work contracts, if any.
Stressing the need for an amicable settlement, the judge urged both sides to nominate, by Wednesday (July 2), two retired High Court judges who could act as mediators.
'Given the tight production schedules and the livelihoods at stake, it is in everyone's interest to resolve this across the table,' Justice Babu said before adjourning the matter.
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