The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

June 1956 CINE TECHNICIAN 87 Lab Topics THEY'RE ALL ASKING ABOUT THE NEW AGREEMENT IN the May issue of the CineTechnician, Bro. Whittemore gave some of the reasons why we in the Labs want an improved agreement. Following the publication of his article, the number of people who have asked me when the draft of the new agreement is going to be presented to the Employers has become larger than ever. (Even before the article appeared I was asked about twenty times a day!) The new draft agreement should, I feel sure, be in the hands of the F.L.A. members before the July issue of this journal is on sale, in fact we might even have held the first meeting between the two negotiating committees by that time. The negotiations for our last agreement became a little strained and difficult at times, and it is my sincere wish that when the negotiations start this time we shall go right through to the final agreed document without hard feeling on either side. It has been done before and I am sure that it can be done again. You will find details of the main points for which we are going to press on page 92 in the General Council report. Olympic The lads at Olympic have had a fairly rough time lately in connection with the processing of week-end TV newsreel. Following a General Council directive, the members at this shop have been very loyal to A.C.T. and refused to handle B.B.C. week-end newsreel work until such time as the employers recognise the right of our members to receive as good terms of employment as are enjoyed by other members doing this type of work elsewhere. During Cup Final week-end the whole membership of A.C.T. refused to handle the processing of this event for the B.B.C, but the B.B.C. were able to do the same to us as Trade Unionists as it did to the printers during their dispute, namely to send the Cup Final material to the continent for processing in the same way that they had the Radio Times printed on the continent. If an organisation which is under the control of the British Government is going to be allowed to use foreign non-union labour, probably By Alf Cooper at undercut wage rates, to defeat the just demands of British workers, it is about time the workers told the government that its first job is to look after the interests of the people who elected them into office, and not to ignore THIS IS URGENT REVISION OF LAB AGREEMENT A mass meeting of Laboratory members will be held on Sunday morning, July 1st. The place of meeting will be notified through stewards as soon as possible. KEEP THE DATE FREE their claims and endeavour to defeat them with foreign labour in foreign countries. I hope that all our members will remember this when the next General Election arrives. A few of us from the Executive Committee along with George Elvin, attended a meeting of the whole membership at Olympic and a lively meeting it turned out to be, but as I said earlier these members are very good technicians and very good Trade Unionists, their main concern being how best can they get this matter cleared up satisfactorily. On behalf of all members, we assured them that, come what may, the whole strength and membership of A.C.T. is a hundred per cent behind them and that this problem will be solved in the usual A.C.T. manner i.e. fairly and with as small amount of trouble as is humanly possible. Automation Since my remarks in the last issue regarding Automation it is interesting to note that the Standard Motor Co. have now issued dismissal notices to 2,400 workers and still not one person in any official capacity from either the Government or the employers associations has uttered one word about these new production developments being made to create greater production for the employer and shorter working hours for the employees. As usual the employers have created a set of conditions to their own advantage and the organised labour will again have to fight conditions actually in existence, thus giving the employer all the advantages in the fight. I say again, the workers must make sure that any prosperity in these islands is shared by all, not just by the industrialists and financiers. Bro. J. Timms of Studio Film Labs, writes suggesting that members from the smaller laboratories could very easily obtain a greater knowledge of the industry to the advantage of both themselves and the employers', if conducted tours of the bigger laboratories, studios and manufacturing organisations could be arranged while these plants are in operation. He feels that this kind of on-the-spot demonstration would probably get more support than the lectures previously organised by A.C.T. For this idea to be a success members and the employers will {Continued on page 91)