MUMBAI: Much to the relief of television producers and broadcasters, the indefinite strike by the Association of Film and TV Editors has been called off unconditionally, after a meeting with Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE) on the evening of 9 November.
“We have called off the strike unconditionally, and editors will resume their work with the respective production houses,” Association of Film and TV Editors GM Vaibhav Desai tells indiantelevision.com.
As the strike continued over the weekend, broadcasters and producers had earlier feared repeat telecast of their daily serials that heavily depended on the television editors, as they ran out of bank episodes to air.
With the strike pulled off, broadcasters have narrowly avoided the risk of repeat telecast and a billion rupees of ad revenue loss.
Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that out of the 22 crafts, which are part of the federation, members of an association went on strike on 4 November after a memorandum of (MoU) addressing the editor’s wage renewals and better working conditions wasn’t signed by the due date.
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“While all the issues have not been resolved and addressed in the meeting, the federation has assured us that the working conditions of the editors will be improved. They have given us in written that the payment dealt out to our assistants and associates will be given within 30 days. They usually have to wait more than 120 days sometimes to receive their fees, but the federation has taken responsibility that this problem will be addressed,” says Desai.
He however added that there was still some amount of uncertainty surrounding the MoU being signed.
Though worried about the shows, the council of producers had earlier refused to have a meeting with the Association unless the strike was called off. “We want to come to an understanding, and are willing to sit down and talk, but not under any threat. We can only resume a discussion once everybody returns to work,” Indian Film and TV Producers Council (IFTPC) co-chairman JD Majethia had earlier informed.
Now that the strike has been called off, the federation is hopeful that the discussions on the MoU will resume after Diwali, and shall be signed soon after, after reviewing the updated information.
