The
growing Indian television industry can well take the lead from
counterparts in other countries, if it wants to put its act together.
From a long winding process of trial and error, several associations
and organisations now bind the entertainment industry in the developed
world into taking more care of the artistes and allied workers.
The
Screen Actors Guild in the US is one of the strongest
representatives of the craft in the country.
"Today, SAG actors head for the set armed with contracts that
respond to the exigencies of new technology and the diversity
of membership. Contracts that, along with salary and work condition
protections, contain specific non-discriminatory, affirmative-action
language. Perhaps the most significant change in contracts, and
an empowerment that would have been unthinkable in the studio
days, are the upfront financial assurances that have been written
in over the past four years: cash bond requirements have been
tightened and a lien provision on independent pictures is required."
In the wake of several serious accidents on sets and on location,
SAG, along with the other unions, has instituted rigorous ongoing
safety guidelines, revised in response to new technology. (read
more about SAG at www.sag.org
)
PACT - the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television is
the UK film and television industry's main trade association and
employers' body representing the commercial interests of three
key groups within the production sector: feature film, television
and animation production companies. It negotiates and manages
a set of collective trade union agreements with all the key unions
involved in film and TV production. PACT recently published The
Courage to Compete, a major report urging Government to act decisively
to remove the anti-competitive obstacles faced by Britain's independent
producers. (read more at www.pact.co.uk
)
The SAG is a labour union affiliated with the AFL-CIO through
the Associated Actors and Artistes of America. It ensures negotiation
and enforcement of collective bargaining agreements, which establish
equitable levels of compensation, benefits and working conditions
for artistes. Besides, there are the American Federation of Television
and Radio Artists, American Guild of Musical Artists and the American
Guild of Variety Artists, which take care of artistes' interests
and ensure that members are adequately compensated in the event
of accidents on the sets. Critics in the industry in US, including
the SAG, point out that not all studios and productions report
all injuries. According to media reports, studios decide whether
to hire trained medics on their sets on a "case-by-case" basis.
There have been accidents too. In 2000, a metal rod held by a
crew member setting up scaffolding hit a high-voltage power line
in Century City, killing him in July 2000. There were eight deaths
in 1997, compared with seven in 1996 and three each in 1995 and
1994, according statistics of the California Occupational Safety
and Health Administration. The number of injuries doubled from
1994 to 1998, from 4,000 to 8,100 statewide. (read more at http://www.minorcon.org/deathonset.html)
