The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

154 CINE TECHNICIAN October 1956 Pioneers Remember ( continued) going for our first agreement I should have been scared stiff. I sailed in believing we were a fullblooded organisation." Syd Bremson told how he was offered £3 per week to train personnel when Denham Laboratories were first being started. He refused and said that when they really wanted him he would go at a reasonable salary. In the end he and Pop Selby did go. Then Bert Craik joined as an optical printer and started pushing around literature on A.C.T. policy and trying to organise things. " I bumped into Bert at the station one day." Syd said, " and asked him what he was trying to do. He explained and got me full of enthusiasm and I promised to help. " Don't get mixed up with A.C.T." " Certain of us key technicians enjoyed certain privileges. When we started organising the union we were called into the office one at a time. When my turn came I was told ' You don't want to get mixed up with A.C.T. After all, if you join A.C.T. you'll have to clock in and lose your privileges.' I replied that that didn't scare me. It didn't matter if I had to clock in or not. I had to get in at eight o'clock just the same. If we all clocked in and got paid for it then to be a member of A.C.T. was a good thing. " If it hadn't been for Bert Craik Denham Laboratories would not have been organised in the early stages and all workers at Denham owe a deep debt of gratitude to him." Frank Fuller recalled how Bert was the key link between union members in the various labs. " We were little bands of people trying to find connecting links. I remember Bert at a club we used to use for meetings. There was George Elvin from the office. Bert Craik was the lay member, but he was from Elstree, and to us that was like being in China! " Among the many stories of the struggles of the laboratories and tributes to the stalwarts of the movement was one to Chris Brunei who. although not himself a laboratory member, was. in Alt' Cooper's words, ' always popping up.' " Chris is there on every occasion when wc have trouble," Alf said. And Chris replied: " There are a hell of a lot of people on the production side who like to help the Laboratories and find it a great pleasure to do so because we know what a terrific help the laboratories are to us." At this point Anthony Asquith, who had been listening very quietly to the exchange of reminiscences, joined in: "We in the Studios," the President said, " are absolutely conscious of being very much one body and we are conscious that we owe so much to you in the labs doing the dirty work. You have had to bear the brunt and burden of A.C.T.'s struggle and I am speaking for everyone when I say how deeply grateful we are for it. We are grateful, so we must show our gratitude." . . . throw bills all over the place How the Laboratory Section itself came into being was related by Syd Bremson. " Frank Fuller, George Irons and myself were very active on the Labs side," he said. " There was meeting after meeting and one night Frank said to me ' I suppose there'll be nothing but studio stuff at the General Council tonight!' We thought around this and concocted the idea of forming a Laboratory Section under rule. There was a tremendous discussion on this and we gave a firm undertaking that if we were allowed to have this Section we would sec that A.C.T. would be enriched by it and would not have anything to fear from its formation. To our great amazement we won the day and were allowed to form the Section." Steve Cox, now on the production side, told how when he was working at Brent Bert Craik came to visit him with a view to starting enrolment of members. " 1 must say it was rather hard going. They were not very enthusiastic. But Bert got his teeth in and he wasn't going to let go. One day I was told by the laboratory office that no union movement would be formed there. I told them they couldn't stop it, so the management sent round ballot papers for or against the union. People had to sign the papers. Several asked me what to do. I told them either to ignore them or to put a cross ' for ', but not to sign." Steve added that results at first were not very encouraging but when various people found out that he was a member they began asking him for membership forms. This was the start. . Dignity we are allowed to assume Alf Cooper referred to stories of the early days which, he said, some people might think fairly tall — sore fingers, clothes that tore after being saturated with developer and so on, and compared the low wages and conditions of former times with what he described as " the dignity that we are allowed to assume now." " I think," he added, " the newer members should know what we have had to fight for." Our Cover Cover still is of Mrs. Eva Brown, a former Shop Steward at Denial)*. CINE TECHNICIAN Editor: MARTIN CHISHOLM Editorial Office: 2 Soho Square, W.l Telephone: GERrard 8506 Advertisement Office: 5 and 6 Red Lion Sq., W.C.I Telephone: HOLborn 4972