Film and TV Technician (1957)

22 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN February 1957 TALKING POINTS (JHOP Stewards get strange ques•^ tions from their members, and they are pretty good at finding the right answers. However, try this one on yours and see what happens — "Are you breaking the agreement if you drink coffee in the tea break?" This all came about because we were talking of the shortage of sugar which there appeared to be in some parts of Soho recently, just before the price went up. The manufacturers were accused of holding the sugar back, knowing that the price was to increase, and some A.C.T.T. members were wondering whether and when they might get an increase to compensate for this latest example of the benefits of private enterprise. Mr. Cube Smiling on all this with his sweet tooth showing is the famous " Mr. Cube " of Tate and Lyle, who seem to have monopolised sugar as efficiently as Mr. Rank has films and flour. " Mr. Cube's " West Indian plantations had an excellent year; "Mr. Cube's" own fleet of sugar ships have been packed full, and he has put up the freight charges to the refineries. And who owns the refineries? Why, " Mr. Cube ", who has passed on the charges (plus a nice little extra amount for the refineries' profits) to you. But just you try passing the KODAK {continued) and listen to our point of view, but they decline to negotiate with us, or with any trade union. Nevertheless our growing strength among the key film workers in the company is a clear and inspiring indication that the workers, as a result of their own experiences, plus the assistance of our active members, who ceaselessly fight for trade union recognition, are learning that A.C.T.T. membership has plenty to offer ! extra cost on to your employer — assuming you are not unemployed By a Cadmus" — and see what happens ! If you are one of those under the Laboratory, Shorts or Newsreel Agreements who get an automatic rise as the official cost-of-living index rises, you will find that it is so arranged that it is a long time after the prices have gone up in the shops that you get anything — and then it will not be enough to compensate you fully. If you are a feature or TV member, or working on making equipment or at Kodak, you may well get a lecture on how poor your employer is and how wicked you are for creating a wages-prices spiral. That other sweet pleasure Of course, there is more to life than eating sugar, Take that other sweet pleasure, paying your landlord his rent, for instance. But I shall not say much on this topic, as it is to be aired at our annual general meeting on 9th and 10th March. Let me just make a point or two : the Government is saying it must rush the Rent Bill through Parliament because of the pressure of business there — exactly the same point that Lord Mancroft made on behalf of the Government in the House of Lords in December, when it tried to rush the Quota section of the Cinematograph Films Bill through without proper opportunity for amending and discussing it. The film trade was unanimously furious about this, and the Government gave in and told Stephen Swingler, M.P. in the House of Commons that, after all, it proposed consulting the industry on the future of Quota legislation. The moral is that if enough people lobby their M.P.s about the Rent Bill, that Bill can be delayed and amended — but, of course, the Government considers the Rent Bill far more important than the Films Bill, so it will not be an easy fight. Talking of lobbying, the cinema owners are putting a lot of work into trying to get Entertainments Tax reduced in the Spring Budget. I wish them luck, but do not think me back-handed if I qualify those good wishes. Our colleagues, the cinema staffs in NATKE, should get some of the benefit from a reduced Tax, as should the cinema patrons and the producers of British pictures. No Calamity? It would be foolish to make any predictions about the Tax and the Budget, but it is worth noting that, especially since Suez, the high cost of armaments will prevent the Government being very generous to the cinemas. When owners complained that a number of halls were closing, they were callously told by Lord Mancroft : " We all know places in which there seem to be competing cinemas on every corner, and it is little wonder that in times of declining cinema attendance some of these must of necessity close their doors. But it would be quite wrong, I think, to see in this a calamitous situation." It has been suggested that cinema Entertainments Tax may be slightly reduced, but, to make up for this, there will be some form of tax on television. The argument is that the Government would not dare give the cinemas much of a concession as that would encourage umpteen others to demand similar treatment; and so it views the entertainment business as a single industry, and it intends juggling with the tax it gets from different departments of that industry. Damn clever, these politicians ! We all know the close business links between some sections of the film and TV worlds — Granada TV and Granada Theatres, for example, or Rank's interests in Cinema-Television Ltd. All this raises again the need for our film and our TV members to stick together, as well as the bigger question of Trade Union unity within the entertainment industry, which was considered by the T.U.C. several years ago. The latter is a big problem that cannot be tackled in a hurry. But there is no harm in starting to think about it now.