The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

October 1956 CINE TECHNICIAN 151 the early Union pioneers for the conditions that they enjoy today, and it is certainly very difficult for anyone who did not experience laboratory work before this first agreement to realise at all what working hours were like. Until the 1939 Agreement there was virtually no overtime payment at all and, especially on the newsreel side, it was not at all uncommon for people to work for two or three days and nights on end. As one of the old stalwarts put it to the writer of this article, " What it boiled down to was this, if you worked in the labs you were on call for the whole of the rest of your working life." There was a clause in the agreement, too, legislating for sick leave and sick pay. Before that sick pay had been comparatively rare. All too often it was just a case of being off sick for a little too long and getting the sack. Award No. 758 Turning quickly on through the records of A.C.T.T.'s work in the laboratory field one comes to another document. Unlike the first entry in the minute book it is not hand-written but printed. On the back page it bears this imprint: " Printed and Published by His Majesty's Stationery Office." And on the front page is the heading: " National Arbitration Tribunal. Award No. 758." " Award No. 758 ", which had effect " as from the first full pay period following 1st February, 1945 ", is another of the key documents for anyone trying to tell, however briefly, the story of the Laboratory Section of A.C.T.T. It was the Union's most important success up to that time and it was the result of three years of intensive struggle which were themselves a continuation of the struggle for improved conditions which started when the first laboratory workers came into the Union. Perhaps even more important still, the battle that preceded this award was the greatest trial of strength that the Union had had during the thirteen years it had been in existence. Negotiations for a new Laboratory agreement had opened in the Autumn of 1944 but they had dragged on and on with little progress made until certain members in the labs imposed an unofficial ban on overtime. Meetings followed at the Ministry of Labour and it was agreed to call off the ban and resume negotiations. Once again the negotiations dragged on, with the employers refusing to endorse the work done by their own negotiating committee. Eventually the matter was discused at A.C.T.'s Annual General Meeting which pledged full support to the Laboratory members and instructed the General Council to offer to refer the outstanding points to arbitration and, if the employers persisted in their obstinacy to impose an official overtime ban on every section of the industry. The employers remained obstinate and on May 4th the overtime ban came into general operation. There were only two exceptions, the Kay group of laboratories who were outside the employers' federation and readily agreed to sign the agreement as negotiated, and outside newsreel technicians who were covering the historic events of that last year cf the war. That ban had an instantaneous and most noticeable effect on the employers. One company, Humphries Laboratories, in a hope of breaking the ban, dismissed those members of A.C.T. who refused to work overtime. Boycott A.C.T. at once started to pay dispute benefit to the victimised members and at the same time a boycott was imposed by the rest of the members on the company. A.C.T. members in studios and producing companies refused to handle work due to be sent to or coming from the offending laboratory. And so the fight went on. Eventually the dispute was referred to the National Arbitration Tribunal which found in favour of A.C.T. The award, in fact, gave the Union everything it had ever hoped for. What is more, the award was back-dated so that it came into force on the day which had originally been agreed with the employers. No sooner had that award been made than Randall Terraneau, the Managing Director of Humphries, phoned George Elvin and said just two words being used for more momentous events at about that same time — " unconditional surrender ". As a result Humphries reinstated the workers who had been locked out, and paid them their wages and cost of living bonus for the entire fourteen weeks of the dispute. And, of course, they also got all the increases due under the award. Members refunded their dispute pay and A.C.T. finished up showing a financial profit on the dispute! This was a resounding victory for A.C.T. Writing on the dispute in the Journal after the award George Elvin used words which are well worth recalling to every member today. " Our members ", he said, " risked a lot financially and in other ways to gain the success now obtained. By standing solidly together they have weathered all storms. For the first time many laboratory workers will go home on Fridays with a decent pay packet. " Always remember " " I hope they will always remember that extra money, together with the improved working conditions they will in future enjoy, was obtained solely through Trade Union organisation. If they maintain that organisation, as I am sure they will, then the future can surely be bright. While the present victory is theirs and not any one individual's, they will, I know, like to join me in paying tribute to those who led the A.C.T. team to victory: Sid Bremson, F. Fuller, L. Pryor and Charlie Wheeler, who, together with Bert Craik and myself, comprised the Negotiating Committee; H. Samuels, our counsel at the tribunal; and, of course, Eric Pask, Shop Steward at George Humphries." It was about this time, too, that Head Office strengthened its ranks. Bessie Bond, who had been working on the A.C.T. Staff, was appointed Organiser with Bert Craik. She has always made the Labs one of her special jobs, helping members to maintain their organisation by advising on everyday problems, whether they occur during office hours, or whether she has to make a night-time visit to a Lab to discuss things with the night staff. There is one other key document in the files which marks the culmination of the next great struggle. It is the Arbitration Award of July 19th, 1954, which constitutes the existing Agreement. The work and struggle which led to that Award will still be fresh in the memory of the majority of members and it is impossible to re-tell the whole story here. Briefly the facts were these: In October, 1953, A.C.T. approached the Film Laboratory Association and Technicolor for a revision of the agreements then existing. What A.C.T. was seek