After only 72 hours on the picket line the Bollywood strike was settled on Friday with both sides coming to a mutual agreement on new terms. Workers returned to work on at least 40 films and a bevy of television shows currently in production on Saturday.
Studio producers will now pay workers within two weeks after a project is completed instead of the standard 3-months that use to be common practice. Workers also got their work-day cut down to 12-hrs from 18. One other detail that surprised workers was the promise from producers to use only union labor. Those benefiting by this new contract are film & TV extras, dancers, as well as behind the camera crew members including, carpenters, grips, gaffers and camera operators,
“The workers have faith in the producers,” said Dinesh Chaturvedi, general secretary of the Federation of Western Cine Employees (FWCE), the union representing the film employees engaged in the 3-day walk-out. “Now it’s up to the producers to have faith in workers.”
“The strike is over, added Sushma Shiromanee, VP of the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Assn. (IMPPA) in a press release late Friday night. “We have agreed to the same demands as on the earlier memorandum of understanding.”
The earlier agreement Shiromanee was referring to was one that had been worked out last January, but one that the FWCE said had not been fulfilled by the producers and studio owners.
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