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".
They complained that the rising wages of technical staff and artistes were contributing towards the box office run of Tamil films in 1997.
The issue escalated when the organisation's leader Vijayan declined to budge from his demands and was unable to gather support from a series of prominent actors and film director Bharathiraja.
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.
The strike was made official briefly in April 2012 but did not disrupt any big-budget film productions, and soon the problems were eased out after the intervention of the State's Labour Minister S. T.