Mumbai: Competition Commission of India (CCI) finds the conduct and practice of All India Film Employees Confederation (AIFEC), Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) & its affiliates and three producer associations i.e. Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA), Film and Television Producers Guild of India (FTPGI) and Indian Film and Television Producers Council (IFTPC) to be in contravention of Competition Law.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found All India Film Employees Confederation (AIFEC), Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) & its affiliates and three producer associations i.e. Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA), Film and Television Producers Guild of India (FTPGI) and Indian Film and Television Producers Council (IFTPC) to be in contravention of provisions of Section 3 of the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) which prohibits anti-competitive agreements.
The Final Order was passed on an information filed by ShriVipul Shah who alleged that specific provisions of the MoU dated 01.10.2010 (MoU) signed between FWICE and producer associations i.e. IMPPA, FTPGI, and IFTPC relating to member-to-member working, fixation of wages, charging for extra-shift, etc. to be anti-competitive. The conduct of FWICE and its affiliated craft associations in enforcing these provisions was also alleged to be anti-competitive.
CCI found Clause 6, which mandated that the producer can only engage with the members of FWICE and its affiliates, and Clause 18, which provided for the constitution of vigilance committee to enforce Clause 6, of the MoU as violative of Section 3(3)(b) read with Section 3(1) of the Act. Further, the directive to engage dancers/fighters in the ratio of 70:30 was also found to be in contravention of Section 3(3)(c) read with Section 3(1) of the Act. Clauses relating to fixation of wages, payment for extra shift, etc. were not found to be anti-competitive.
CCI also noted in its order that trade unions enjoy no immunity or exemption for their conduct which contravenes the provisions of the Act and accordingly, the plea of the trade unions being governed only by the provisions of Trade Union Act, 1926 was rejected.
CCI has issued a cease and desist order against the associations in respect of the conduct found to be in contravention of the Act. However, no monetary penalty was imposed on any of the associations.
A copy of the order passed in Case No. 19 of 2014 under Section 27 of the Act has been uploaded on the website of CCI at www.cci.gov.in.
This gives an edge for the various societies and trade bodies representing Film and Television Producers across South Indian language markets to seek similar remedy from the atrocities of various Film Employees Trade Unions in South India such as Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) that prompts them to work with its Members alone.
It may be noted that recently FEFSI has threatened Tamil Film Producer’s Council by resorting to indefinite strike for latter’s decision to engage with workers from Non FEFSI Members.
