|  MUMBAI
: The wage dispute between Indian TV producers and workers' unions appeared to
have come to an end earlier this morning with the two disagreeing factions coming
together to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in front of the media, terminating
the 10-day-old strike which had brought the entire Hindi general entertainment
channels into a state of programming paralysis.
 But
late in the evening even as everyone was celebrating, came the news that the sound
recordists' union was not too happy with the settlement that the FWICE had struck
on their behalf with the four producers' bodies. Murmurs were that the sound recordists
were threatening to go on a non-cooperation stir.
 Their
ire is directed against the fact that the accord gives them a monthly income of
Rs 40,000 as against Rs 51,000 which they expected. At the time of writing, the
sound recordists' union was scheduled to meet tomorrow in the morning at Film
City to decide on their course of action.
FWICE general secretary Dinesh
Chaturvedi, however, was sanguine that the federation will manage to convince
the recordists' union to accept the terms that had been agreed. He said, "We
have agreed on the MoU and will convince the sound recordists' union. The strike
is definitely called off."
So when will the Hindi GECs start airing
fresh content? Broadcasters had yet to agree on the date, though most admitted
that new daily shows were unlikely to go on air until next week.
Zee TV
business head Tarun Mehra said, "Even if the strike is called off, no GEC
will air fresh content this week. We will all meet and decide on the day from
when we will start airing fresh content together."
The broadcasters
are also slated to meet the Advertisers Agencies Association of India (AAAI) to
decide on the ad rates individually.
Said Madison World chairman Sam Balsara,
"While advertisers have already got their inventory ready, I am sure advertisers
and broadcasters together will amicably find a way and we would see regular flow
of ads on GECs once everything is back on track"
In the meeting held
earlier in the day between FWICE and the core committee of producers associations
(IMPPA, Film and TV Producers Guild of India Ltd & AMPTPP), it was decided
that daily wage workers will now be hired on a monthly basis, with shift timings
being from 9 am to 10 pm. If workers are made to work after that, they will have
to be paid overtime on an hourly basis. Additionally, producers will have to compulsory
take out group insurance for all workers as per Insurance Companies prevalent
policies.
"When we went into negotiations for a monthly salary structure,
we factored in the 7.5 per cent hike that we were pressing for. The MoU is the
beginning of a new dawn," said FWICE president Dharmesh Tiwari.
What
this also means is that old agreements with TV workers promising annual increments
have been scrapped.
The MoU also states that producers will have to give
a month's notice before dismissing or discontinuing any workers. Besides, it has
also directed the workers affiliated to the FWICE to get valid Pan cards and Bank
accounts.
"This is a significant step towards transparency and corporatisation
as workers will be paid by cheque and are being brought under a monthly salary
structure. They will also have insurance cover," said the head of a leading
production house.
Click
here to read the MoU
Also
Read: TV
strike called off | 
