International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1949)

brains and guts of the Local fellows who went out and turned the trick in the first place — the trick of organizing and fighting and battling and worrying that they would have a job to go to tomorrow — not somebody 1000 miles removed. We want to say something very nice about the officials of Local 162 who invested their nerve, their money and their courage in this hard-hitting fight, a fight that was won not alone for Local 162 but for every man who carries an IA card. Thank you, from the bottom of the well. So that every card-holding member of the Alliance may be fully informed as to the importance of this decision to his own personal welfare, we are appending excerpts from this noteworthy decision. Labor Unions — Membership. Whether or not a labor organization is arbitrarily closed to a particular worker depends on the facts of each case, and in a mandamus proceeding by out-of-state members * * * to compel a local union to admit plaintiffs to membership, it is the plaintiffs' burden to prove that they are entitled to membership, that membership is closed to them, and that it is arbitrarily closed. A labor union is not compelled to admit all persons as a condition to maintaining closed-shop agreements, and it has the right to reject or expel persons who refuse to abide by any reasonable regulation or lawful policy adopted by the union. Moving picture projectionists who are members of out-of-state unions are not entitled* to a writ of mandate to compel a local union to admit them to membership where they have not applied for membership and have not complied or offered to comply with reasonable requirements imposed by the union as conditions for obtaining membership, even if the evidence establishes that any application for membership would have been arbitrarily rejected. Projectionists who are members of out-ofstate unions do not have an absolute right to be admitted to a local union as transfer members, even though the constitution of the International union compels a local union to issue transfer cards to its members, where the constitution of the International union recognizes the right of the local union to which the card is presented to reject the applicant, and where there is nothing therein which forbids the practice adopted by the local union of requiring outside men to meet some or all of the qualifications required of new members. It is not improper or contrary to public policy for a local union to require that an out-of-state member file an application and submit to a re-examination of his qualifications as a condition for membership in the local union, and the mere fact that he might have originally complied with the requirements of the International union at the time he joined his home union, does not mean that he still meets those requirements, nor indicate that he can and does meet other reasonable requirements imposed by the local union. In a mandamus proceeding by out-of-state members to compel membership in the local union, evidence that one plaintiff and a third person presented their transfer cards to the local union, but were notified that their cards had been rejected without prejudice to their right to become members by the application method, would not justify or require affirmance of a judgment granting the writ of mandate. Liability for Causing Loss of Employment— Damages. In an action by out-ofstate members against a local union for general damages for alleged loss of wages and for examplary damages for alleged conspiracy to deprive plaintiffs of their employment as projectionists, the court's refusal to grant damages could not be successfully attacked on the theory that plaintiffs were forced to leave their work where the evidence supported a finding that it was not true that a conspiracy existed, or that fraud, malice, intimidation or coercion was practiced by defendants to deprive plaintiffs of their livelihood as motion picture operators or of their membership in the International union, or to deny them admission into the local union. Liability for Causing Loss of Employment. In an action by out-of-state members against a local union for general damages foi alleged loss of wages and for exemplary damages for alleged conspiracy to deprive plaintiffs of their employment as projectionists, the court's refusal to grant damages could not be attacked on the ground that plaintiffs were not dispatched to work as outside members, where the constitution of the International union provided that outside men must keep their working cards on deposit with the local union, and plaintiffs admitted that they had picked up their working cards. Liability for Interference with Right to Work. If out-of-state members of a union were qualified for full membership in a local union, but the local union arbitrarily denied them admission and at the same time refused to permit them to work without belonging to the local union, the out-of-state members would be entitled to recover damages for wrongful interference with their right to work. In an action by out-of-state members against a local union and its officers for general damages for alleged loss of wages and foi examplary damages for alleged conspiracy to deprive plaintiffs of their employment as projectionists: where the trial court's findings showed that plaintiffs' earnings were greatly reduced after they stopped working in the jurisdiction of the local union, but no findings were made relating to plaintiffs' right to damages on the theory that the reduction in their earnings was caused by a wrongful interference with their right to work, the denial of damages, at least in the absence of findings on the matter was inconsistent with the court's conclusion that plaintiffs were entitled to full membership. Multiple 16-mm Soundtrack in J. A. Maurer Version IN an interesting variation of an old principle, J. A. Maurer, Inc. has introduced a 16-mm sound track in which the familiar bilateral type of recording in a single line is replaced by a group of six smaller variablearea tracks, each a duplicate of the other and l/6th the width normally employed. The multiple track thus contains 12 simultaneously modulated, identical areas (see accompanying illustration). More uniform reproduction from the point of view of clarity and naturalness is claimed for this method because much of the waveform distortion that occurs with the usual track is eliminated. The scanning light beams of most 16-mm projectors depart from perfection in two ways: (1) they are not uniformly illuminated from one side of the sound track to the other, and (2) they are not correctly adjusted for "azimuth" (that is, for the ideal positioning at an exact right angle to the direction of film travel). Numerous studies have revealed that wellknown makes of 16-mm projectors introduced from 15 to 30% intermodulation distortion The Maurer multiple 16-mm soundtrack, which is asserted to give greater clarity and naturalness to reproduced sound. because of the lack of accurate adjustment of the two factors mentioned. 8 to 10% intermodulation distortion is generally considered the maximum permissible in the 35-mm industry. With a group of six identical VA tracks in place of one, a variation even as great as 50% in the illumination in the projector sound scanning beam will still provide substantially undistorted wave form, the variation over any individual modulated area being extremely small. Since the total signal reaching the photocell is the sum of the signals given by six individual tracks, each of which has very low distortion, the total reproduced signal has low distortion. Similarly, the harmonic distortion of wave-form due to azimuth error is reduced. Overall intermodulation distortion is brought down to values of the order of 5%. Early Multiple-Track Patents Although the multiple track is new to the U. S. A. for commercial recording use, the basic idea is not original. As far back as October, 1918, a German patent was issued to E. M. C. Tigerstedt for a sound recording optical system that produced a multiple track. In the U. S. A. patents were issued to S.O.F.A. Berglund in 1926 and 1927 covering methods of producing such tracks and others have, at various times, been experimentally active. .• The multiple sound track will be made available as conversion to all present owners ot late-type Maurer recorders, and soon it will be standard equipment on all new Maurer recorders. Further details from Maurer at 37-01 31st St., Long Island City, N. Y. INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • November 1949