Disappointing times could be in store for those who turn to Telugu television channels for their daily dose of soaps with TV workers threatening to go on strike seeking wage hike.
If the production teams stay away from shooting fresh episodes from August 3, most daily serials on different channels, including those with high viewer ratings, will run out of episodes within a fortnight or so.
The Telugu Television Technicians & Workers’ Federation, representing unions of crafts involved in production, announced its intention to go on strike citing lack of response from producers on the hike of ‘bhattas’ and also the demand on streamlining work hours.
“In the last two decades since private television channels came into being, there has been no revision of daily ‘bhattas’ for technicians of all crafts from make-up and dubbing to light boys and cameramen,” argues federation president Vijay Yadav. Despite working long hours that stretch from early hours to late night, a light man or a set assistant is getting only between Rs. 400 and Rs. 500 per day.
The federation says that the producers who get Rs. 90,000 per episode from the channels are not willing to give the workers small hike. “More than 18,000 families are dependant on Telugu television industry and repeated appeals have been made to the producers for a revision,” Mr. Yadav says.
Wage hike is only being asked for the departments of make-up, art, production boys, dubbing artistes, production managers, camera and drivers. For other crafts of production, only streamlined work hours are sought.
Federation chairman M. Srinivas Rao says the Telugu Television Producers’ Council was approached repeatedly to have these issues addressed without any positive response. “Technicians are engaged in work for 16 hours to 18 hours, but what they take home is less than a daily coolie wage,” he says.
Technicians are engaged in work for 16 hours to 18 hours, but what they take home is less than a daily coolie wage
