Bollywood strikes for more pay

Thousands of Bollywood workers in Mumbai have gone on strike over pay and conditions.

Many of the film industry's employees, including dancers, carpenters, lighting technicians, cameramen and script writers, have said they have not been paid for months, according to union representatives.

Dinesh Chaturvedi, of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees said: "Employees sometimes work for as long as 30 hours at a stretch. There have been serious health issues and even accidents. We have been writing to producers but it got us nowhere."

The strike was called by the federation after talks demanding better wages with film producers broke down in August.

But some producers have said that while they plan to discuss the issue, they are prepared to weather a long dispute.

"There is no shooting at all today, but there is no panic here. The biggest problem is with the TV producers," said Sushma Shiromanee of the Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association.

"This is not only harming producers, but daily wage workers, too, who aren't earning anything because of it... They should have sat down with us to talk about this. We can wait for six months if necessary."

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

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