Jurisdictional disputes in the motion-picture Industry : hearings before a special subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, first-session, pursuant to H. Res. 111 (1948)

MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES 5 Mr. Kahane. I would say that Mr. Fred Meyer of Twentieth Century-Fox will be able to tell you that fully. Mr. McCann. Is Mr. Meyer present ? Mr. Kahane. Yes, sir. Mr. McCanx. I will ask Mr. Meyer to qualify himself as soon as possible to discuss that matter. Proceed, sir. Mr. Kahane. The producers had only two alternatives : to operate their studios as best they could under such strike conditions, or to close down the studios entirely, throwing out of work some 30,000 employees, most of whom had no interest in the controversy, and the producers themselves facing a staggering and crippling loss — possibly bankruptcy. They chose to fight to keep the studios in operation. Industry is helpless in such a jurisdictional dispute. The controversy is not of industry's making, nor is its settlement within industry's control. The issue simply is this : Who does what work, and who pays dues to whom. That is an issue solely between unions. It is not an issue between the unions and us. It is trite but true to say that industry is caught in the middle. If it exerts particular activity to settle the dispute, it finds itself in the position of the innocent bystander who intervenes in a violent family quarrel. His fate is traditional. Tlie producers have long begged labor to settle these problems which have plagued tlie industry. They have encouraged every suggestion for workable arbitration procedures. They have offered to cooperate in ever^^ way in setting up, and maintaining continuous arbiration machinery, and once offered to pay all the expenses involved. AVe have learned through long experience that jurisdictional disputes cannot be settled on the level of the locals. We have learned by long experience that tlie A. F. of L. cannot compel such settlements between its autonomous internationals. Only the international unions involved can permanently settle the jurisdictional disputes and assure peace in the industry. All that the producers want is labor peace and the freedom to operate. They welcome and ^rill support fully any effort to bring about an end to this costly, senseless, jurisdictional fighting among unions over who should do what work in the studios. The investigations of this committee offer us one further hope. If this committee, by invoking public opinion, by using its good offices, by seeking legislation, or by any other means, can succeed in resolving tliese continuous jui-isdictional problems so that our studios can operate normally and our employees can remain at w^ork, it will have made one of the greatest contributions for good in the history of American labor relations. In order to assist the committee in its investigations into a very complex problem, the producers have prepared the following statement, tracing in some detail the history of the jurisdictional disputes which have been most acute in the past 2 or 3 years. It should be emphasized that our troubles have nothing to do with wages, hours, or working conditions. Our employees are well paid — in many categories receiving the highest pay in the world for such work — and little difficulty has been experienced in reaching agreements with them on those subjects. Our single labor problem is the jurisdictional dispute.