The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

140 CINE TECHNICIAN General Council in Session September 1955 USEFUL MEETING WITH P.C.A. TV NEGOTIATIONS. The General Secretary reported to the Executive that a very useful meeting had been held with the Programme Contractors' Association and a decision had been reached that an Agreement on TV should be negotiated as speedily as possible, based on the B.F.P.A. Agreement. Whilst the Programme Contractors' Association regretted that A.C.T. was not participating in the general negotiating machinery it would, of course, negotiate separately with A.C.T. Although the Programme Contractors' Association had promised to submit a draft agreement within two weeks of the first meeting, they had written to say they could not find time to do this. The General Council reacted strongly on this and agreed unanimously to demand an early meeting, which was agreed to. ANGLO AMERICAN FILM AGREEMENT. Annual review of the Agreement was taking place this month in London, and A.C.T. would press the Board of Trade for some tightening up of the Agreement, so as to restrict remittances of money from American films to the United States, and thereby not only help British films but also help the general economy of the country. LABS STAND FIRM. Managements at Technicolor and Kay were asking for a seven-day working week, and the Executive had received a number of other reports of excessive overtime from labs as well as from the production side. As reported fully on page 137 the Executive issued a circular to all labs instructing all members not to enter into any negotiations on a seven-day week other than those already agreed in regard to the 12 nominated weekends for newsreels; production sections were also circularised explaining that any delay in deliveries from labs was occasioned by heavy increase in work there excellent work was being done by our lab members in keeping delay to a minimum, and members were urged not to harass the labs. The Lab Committee at a special meeting had welcomed these circulars. Technicolor management had also put counter-proposals to A.C.T.'s claim for increased rates in the Matrix Department, and Technicolor Shop Steward had reported that these had been rejected by the membership. The General Council, in considering all these points, decided that the Executive should go into the possible danger that processing might be sent to France. Meanwhile, there should be no departure from the Lab Agreement. CASUALISATION FUND. Following the resolution at the Annual General Meeting, the Feature Branch Committee reported the following proposals to the Executive: (a) Registration of all reputable technicians. (b) These technicians to hold themselves available for work at the rate for the job, daily or weekly. (c) That immediately a technician comes out of work he receives x £ per week, in addition to his unemployment benefit. (d) This Fund to be brought about by a sum paid into a pool, held jointly by A.C.T. and the B.F.P.A., the Fund to be started and kept in operation by a means of a charge on every Production. The Executive accepted this as an interim report, and agreed to ask the Feature Branch Committee to study somewhat similar arrangements which had been negotiated recently by the I.A.T.S.E. in America. FIFTY-FOUR NEW MEMBERS were accepted, including twentyone in TV. Arising from a general discussion in connection with TV applications it was noted that some applicants' category of employment was different from normal A.C.T. nomenclature. It was agreed to make clear to all con cerned that the Union maintained the right to decide the actual category of membership and that as far as possible all future applications should be approved A.C.T. nomenclature. SOVIET FILM TRADE DELEGATION. At the request of the Soviet Delegation the General Secretary had arranged a meeting with the Legislation Committee responsible for drawing up A.C.T.'s policy statement two years ago on the control and organisation of the film industry. SHORTS TRAINEES: Bessie Bond reported to the Shorts Committee that she had met representatives of Merton Park Studios and Film Producers' Guild to discuss operation of the Trainee and Newcomer Clause of the A.S.F.P. Agreement. The following formula was drawn up: For purposes of operating the 10% trainee alloivance, the Union considers that regardless of whether the man is graded or not by the Management they will consider him as part of the 10 rr allowance for 12 months or such longer time a.s the individual is receiving a trainee's or newcomer's rate under the Agreement. If, however, the trainee or newcomer is transferred from another section of A.C.T. thin. subject to Union approval, he will leave the quota as sooji as transferred to a graded job. This was considered a suitable basis on which to work, but as the Shorts Committee was not fully representative, the matter was not discussed in detail and it was agreed as a matter of urgency to refer the formula to the Executive for decision. SHEIM'ERTON STUDIOS MEMBERS were congratulated for their support of the E.T.U. and N.A.T.K.E. who were in dispute with the B.F.P.A. Our members at Shepperton also criticised the (Continued at foot of next page)