Telugu film workers call off strike, shootings to resume

Hyderabad, Dec 7 (IANS) As many as 14,000 workers from Andhra Pradesh Film Industry Employees Federation, who have been on strike for the last two weeks over low wages and lack of employment regulations, have finally decided to call off their stir as an amicable agreement has been reached with the producers.

The strike had started because of the decision by the producers to hire the services of anyone to work in their films, even if they are not members of the Andhra Pradesh Film Industry Employees Federation.

"The talks with the union members ended successfully on Friday. They have agreed to work as per the conditions that producers can appoint technicians at their will and they don't have to be necessarily members of the federation," B. Sivaramakrishna, president, Telugu Producers Council, told IANS.

Regular shootings resumed from Saturday.

The shooting of several big budget films that were scheduled for Sankranti release next year had been affected due to the strike. With the end of the industry workers' stir, the producers can now breathe a sigh of relief.