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280 MOTION-PICT-URE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES
Mr. BiRTHHiGHT. No ; I didn't do that. I sent him the last directive that was issued — or rather, clarification.
Mr. McCann. Isn't it a fact that in your telegram you attempted to correct some statement made the night before?
Mr. Birthright. That's right.
Mr. McCaxn. And did you consult with Mr. Knight before sending the telegram ^
Mr. Birthright. I did not.
Mr. M('(\vNx. You sent it on your own initiative?
Mr. Birthright. That is right.
Mr. McCann. Now, gentlemen, returning to Mr. Doherty, I assume that you know tliat on the 11th of August, 1946— the. 11th of September, 1946, rather — there was an ultimatum issued to the prockiction companies and that this ultimatum gave the companies the choice of restoring carpentry work in the traditional way in which it had been handled in the studios to the carpenters or else informed them that there would be a strike commencing the next morning at 6 o'clock. Did you know^ that, sir?
Mr. Doherty. No, sir; and this committee had no responsibility whatsoever for any such ultimatum that may have been issued unless it was taken from the clarification that we handed down in August of 1946.
Mr. McCann. Well, gentlemen, numerous witnesses have testified here that it was because of the clarification that you issued that they then issued the ultimatum. They have testified before our committee that on the 26th of December, when you issued your original judgment or findings, the unions yielded to the order and that Mr. Casey was appointed as an arbitrator, and Mr. Casey has testified that under the arbitration award, as he understood it, he gave the erection of sets on stages to the lATSE, which had previously gone to the carpenters, and that he thought that he was carrying out the orders which you men, by your judgment, required.
Mr. Doherty, was he right or wrong in doing that ?
Mr. Doherty. Mr. Chairman and Counsel, we issued no ultimatum whatsoever other than the December 26, 1945, decision, and it is reasonable to assume that some sort of an ultimatum was construed from the so-called clarification that we handed down in August of 1946.
Mr. McCann. All right. Now, gentlemen, I am just trying to bring you up to date on this hearing to show j^ou what took place.
Mr. Doherty. We appreciate that.
Mr. McCann. Mr. Casey has testified, as I understand it — and he sits here to my right — that as he read your decision of December the 26th, it was his opinion that you were taking from the carpenters the jobs which they had done historically for many years in the studios — the erection of sets on the stages — and that he gave those tasks to the lATSE.
I want to ask you if. when he did that, he was carrying out the thought that you had in y(mr mind when you wrote this original decision.
Mr. Doherty. The answer is definitely that he was not carrying out the thought that we had in mind, and might I add here, Mr. Chairman and counsel, that oftentimes people who are, shall we call them industrial-relations experts, find it convenient to have one group of emploj'ees in an industry or a plant disagree with each other — it is