Jurisdictional disputes in the motion-picture Industry : hearings before a special subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, first-session, pursuant to H. Res. 111 (1948)

MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES 17 Labor Council, backed by the lATSE, the Screen Actors' Guild, and the teamsters' union, insisted that the producers not discriminate against Federal Union. In retaliation against the threats of the CSU, the Central Labor Council in May 1946 declared "hot" all work which had ben performed by members of the lAM. The CSU retaliated by declaring that all sets were "hot" where the cameras used on such sets had been serviced by a Federal Union machinist, and prohibited members of the CSU-affiliated unions from working such sets. Such action resulted in a refusal of carpenters and painters to perforin work on numerous sets. Mr. McCann. From your experience as a specialist on labor relations and from your years of experience in the moving-picture business, did you, prior to your own difficulties, ever hear of one union of the A. F. of L. declaring the work done by another A. F. of L. union "hot" ? Mr. Kaiiane. Well, first, I am not a specialist in labor relations — at least I have not been, except for the last couple of years, if I am qualified now. Mr. McCann. The impression I get of this is that all these men belong to the same A. F. of L. and they are treating each other as if they are scabs, not union members at all, and one union says, "This is 'hot' if you work on it," and the other union says, "This is 'hot' if you work on it,." and I wondered if, to your knowledge, that has ever happened in any other industrj^, that an A. F. of L. union declared "hot" something that another A. F. of L. union did. Mr. K\HANE. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find that it has happened. Mr. McCann. Of course, w^e recognize that the lAM was not a part of the A. F, of L. at that time, but they had been right up to that time. Mr. Kaiiane. We often see that one group of unions call the other group scabs if they don't agree on their jurisdictional problems. Mr. McCann. There has been a lot of name calling in this. Mr. Kahane. Yes, sir. Mr. McCann. Proceed with your statement. Mr. Kahane. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Sorrell, the president of CSU advised the producers that if they wanted "to get off the spot" on the machinist question, all they had to do was to file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board and let it determine the bargaining unit and representative for machinist. Mr. Sorrell, on behalf of the CSU, agreed that the CSU would abide by the Board's decision, and in an effort to make sure that the filing of the petition would bring peace to the industry, the producers conferred with the lATSE, which also agreed to terminate its program of "hot" work and to accept the Board's decision on the representation petition to be filed by the producers. Accordingly, on June 25, 1946, the producers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board asking that the Board determine the appropriate unit and the collective-bargaining representative for machinists. The men who had left their jobs in the "hot set" controversy were returned to work. It was thought the agreement that all parties would abide by the National Labor Relations Board decision on the petition filed by 67383— 48— vol. 1 3