MUMBAI: The year 2012, has started on a bad note for the Tamil Film Industry.

A dispute over wage revision between Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) and workers union led by Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) has brought the Tamil industry to a grinding halt.

There has been no shooting of any films in Chennai for the last 10 days, due to the stand-off between the producers and unions. Many meetings between the warring factions of the film industry have meanwhile been called but nothing worthwhile has come out.

All this started when in January the FESI went ahead and announced a ‘unilateral‘ structure insisting that the same should come into force immediately.

Soon the TFPC issued a statement reading, “This is shocking as it seems to question the democratic functioning in this matter. The two (associations) discuss and jointly decide the wage-scale once in three years. This is a unilateral decision (by FEFSI)."

While wage revision had been happening once in three years for the past few years, it did not happen last year with the expiry of the latest scale in early 2011.

"Agreement on payscale is usually signed after discussions with both parties and this time FEFSI‘s unilateral decision was against normal practice," TFPC sources said. The TFPC also feels that the hike demanded by FEFSI is unreasonable and done unilaterally.

The impasse has badly hit the production sector as nearly 50 films have been delayed due to this “unofficial strike”.

Both TFPC and FEFSI have hardened their stand and are refusing to hold meetings for an amicable settlement. The ball is now in the state government’s Court as both the groups want official intervention.