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 465 scale is miniature work, when in many cases they are built on a reduced scale for perspective purposes. Tliis was one of tlie unsolved jurisdictional problems and the committee was clearly confronted witli the problem of determining a proper division of tlie work. That could have been very easily done by a statement to the effect that sets built below a certain given scale would be considered miniatures for construction purposes and would be done by the lATSE and sets built above a determined scale would be built by carpenters. Surely tlie construction of a mountain 40 feet high and over 200 feet long could not logically be called a miniature. "Sec. 7. Property building." This was another unsolved problem and the committee made no effort to clarify properties. In recent years 75 percent of property building has been done by the lATSE but recently they have extended the term "properties" to include wagons, airplanes, automobiles, boats, trains, and hundreds of similar items wiiich are made in wliole or in part of wood or wood substitute, and are thus clearly infringing on the .iurisdiction of the carpenter. . "Sec. 8. The erection of sets on stages except as provided in section 1." This Is the work which the carpenters local 946 and local 80 of the lATSE had settled liy mutual agreement (exhibit A) and wliich should not have been considered by tlie committee since it was no longer an unsolved issue within the meaningof paragraph 4 of the Cincinnati Agreement. Local 80 and local 940 were the only two organizations involved in the erection of sets on stages. Since the award "the lATSE has taken the position that the agreement was only binding on local 80 and that since the erection of sets on stages liad been awarded to the lATSE tliey set up a new local for the purpose of doing tliis work. The setting up of an lATSE local for the purpose of erecting sets on stages is a subterfuge based on tlie last paragraph of exliibit A and made possible by the A. F. of L. committee's nnautlioriz.ed assumption of power to ad.ludicate .iurisdiction over work already settled by the locals involved during the 30-day period provided for by the Cincinnati agreement. We repeat that it is apparent that the A. F. of L. committee had no right and no power to make any adjudication over the work of erecting of sets on stages because that work was no longer in dispute and had been settled by representatives of the local unions involved in the presence of their international representatives. In consideration of the agreement with local 80 of the lATSE, local 946 conceded certain carpenter work to local 80 in return for local 80"s agreement to relinquish all chiims to the work of erection of sets on stages to local 946. The lATSE International Union, however, by virtue of the A. F. of L. committee's award, has .set up a new local called "Set erectors" for the purpose of doing the work of erection of sets on stages. Thus, carpenters local 946, bound by its agreement with local 80. lost jurisdiction over work rightly belonging to it and at the same time was deprived of the benefits of that agreement by the award of the A. F. of L. committee. This is the most serious paragraph of the award to local 946 and it stands to lose over .")00 members unless this can be corrected. "Secs. 9 and 70. Wrecking all sets, exterior and int*»-ior. Erecting platforms for lamp operators and camera men on stages." This work has been done almost exclusively by the Grii>s for the past few years and was never seriously contested by the carpenters. Section 10 covers a lot of carpenter work relinquished by the carpenters local 946 to local 80 in consideration for local SO's promise to drop all claims to the erection of sets on stages. Some of the isections of the directive are too broad, and no fair interpretation can be made. These sections should be clarified by the A. F. of L. committee. The producers themselves are interpreting the directive — for example, they are perniittin<i the lATSE to build and construct all sets on stages with the exception of mi'l and trim work. At the present time the set erectors are laying finish floors, putting siding on walls, cutting roof rafters, shingling roofs, and hundreds of other items that have been done exclusively by the carpenters for the past 2.T years. Since the award has been issued, the jurisdictional problems have grown and the lATSE continues to claim more work. Unless something is done to clarify or modify thf^ directive, the motion-picture industry is headed for another long and bitter jurisdictional dispute for which the membership of the different locals involved will hold the A. F. of L. responsible for not definitely clarifying jurisdictional lines. Respectfully submitted. James N. Skelton. (In behalf of the executive board and membership of local union 946). 67383— 48— vol. 1 31