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)

882 MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES Mr. McCann. You reminded us the 1945 strike took place during wartime, and you implied it was a violation of labor's no-strike pledge. Is it not true that, prior to the strike, 3'ou threatened to use your full economic power, which is said to include closing every theater in America, if producers dealt with the painters for set decorators'? Mr. Walsh. I think it's one thing to threaten and another thin<r to do. Mr. McCann. This refers to your trip to Xew York in March 1945 to see Mr. Hutcheson when you and he went over photographs of disputed carpenter and prop work. Was not your purpose to make a deal with Mr. Hutcheson whereby he would order his members back to work through painter picket lines ? Mr. Walsh. We were attempting to get Hutcheson to have his men go back to work. We were also attempting to get Lindelhof to put his men back to M^oi'k and Ed Flory to put his men back to work and Ed Brown to get his men back to work, all under the same condition, only we thought we had to work a little harder on Mr. Hutcheson, and we wanted to see if we couldn't do it. Mr. McCann. Can you tell us if the motion picture industry, at the time of the 1945 strike. Avas classed as essential by the ar Manpower Commission, meaning it could hire new employees as freely, say, as a plane plant ? Mr. Walsh. I don't know about that. We would have to go into that. We would have to o-o into those rejzulations. Mr. McCanx. Is it not true that strikers, during the 1945 dispute, permitted studios to make training films and similar films for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and other services, just as if there were no strike? IMr. Walsh. I think there was some done that way, yes. Mr. McCann. This also pertains to the 1945 strike : You said to keep the studios running that the lATSE moved its members into the vacated jobs. You gave the impression that all jobs were filled by this switching about process of lATSE men. Is that true ? Mr. Walsh. No: I think you know the situation, that until such time as it was decided to replace the people, to move the people around to keep production running, I think after production had been cancelled these people started to come back to work and we started to the replacements of all those men that had been moved. Mr. McCann. You testified your men were herded in concentration camp stages during the 60-day period following the end of the strike. How many of these men were full card-bearing lATSE members? Mr. Walsh. I don't know. sir. That would have to be checked. Mr. McCann. You testified that the only work gained bv the TATSE under the December direr-tive was about carpenter jobs. In July 1916, Mr. Daniel Y. Flanasjan, western director of the A. F. of L., came here at Mr. Green's orders to find out how the directive was being observed. How do you explain his reporting to ]\Ir. Green that the carpenters, plumbers, and electrical workers reported losing a total of 1,050 jobs, all to the lATSE ? Mr. Walsh. This is the first time I have ever heard it. sir. I have never seen Mr. Flanagan's report, and the American Federation of Labor has never said anything to our group about the fact that they had Mr. Flanagan's report. We never tried to find out whether we did get that many members or not. I would be surprised if we did.