Film Employees Federation of South India
| Founded | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Head union | G Siva |
| Affiliation | Tamil Film Directors' Council, Nadigar Sangam |
| Office location | Vadapalani, Chennai |
| Country | India |
The Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) is an Indian organisation consisting of technicians from the Tamil film industry in Tamil Nadu, India. A total of 23 unions belonging to different trades in the film and television industry are affiliated to the FEFSI that has around 25,000 members.
In June 1997, some members of the FEFSI resorted to a flash strike during the shooting of the film Raman Abdullah, directed by Balu Mahendra, protesting against the director engaging "outsiders". This led into a major crisis when FEFSI launched an indefinite strike, affecting other film units as well. The state government's intervened and FEFSI called off the strike after a week. However, the producers hardened their stand and insisted that they would not engage any technician or worker associated with FEFSI. They complained that the rising wages of technical staff and artistes were contributing towards the box office run of Tamil films in 1997. They demanded that workers and technicians form new organisations exclusively for the production of Tamil films, on the lines of organisations in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The issue escalated when the organisation's leader Vijayan declined to budge from his demands and was able failed to gather support from a series of prominent actors and film director Bharathiraja.vijayan also became the key person for the strike which led to suicide of some members and some lost their asserts due to this strike.
Films delayed included Marudhanayagam, Jeans, Sethu and Kadhal Rojave. Producer K. T. Kunjumon said his losses amounted to ₹ 3 lakhs after a large set he had erected for his film Ratchagan (a replica of the massive Rajaji Hall) was destroyed in the rain. Several new Cielo cars parked near the set were also damaged, resulting in a loss of another ₹ 7 lakhs, he claimed. The strike lasted for over six months, delaying the production of several films before easing. In June 1998, FEFSI and the Tamil Film Producers Association (TFPA) merged and formed a new organisation called the Tamil Nadu Film Producers and Employees Federation. An agreement to this effect was signed by the representatives of the two organisations in the presence of then Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi.
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