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 1153 council as indeed it could not be for any action whatsoever by the executive coiuicil. Mr. McCann. May I ask a question or two on that, please? Mr. Kk\rns. All right. Mr. McCann. Mr. Levy, I want to correct your statement to the effect that I am of the opinion that the executive council had authority to pass upon the directive. If any such impression has been received, it is erroneous. But you have raised a question on which I am thoroughly unadvised and which I would like to ask you about as one of counsel for the American Federation of Labor groups. Are you in a position to inform our committee whether or not there is or is"^ not a precedent in the American Federation of Labor which either required or which countenanced the submission of the decision to the council ? I do not know anything about their constitution, and I do not know anything about the "historical background of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor insofar as the authority of the council is concerned, so I ask you whether or not there is or is not a precedent in either the bylaws, rules of order, and so forth, of the American Federation of Labor, which made it either consistent with precedent, or which required the committee appointed by them to report back to the council. Mr. Levy. I should like to answer the question, Mr. McCann, in this way: That having read the constitution of the American Federation of Labor, in force at that time and now, there is no provision in it for any such act. From the standpoint of precedent, I cannot speak with complete knowledge because I have not attempted to study all of the jurisdic- tional disputes that have sought to be resolved within the councils of the American Federation of Labor. So far as this particular controversy is concerned, the agreement among the parties and the Council oi the American Federation of Labor, and by the parties, I mean the major producers and the interna- tional organizations involved in this jurisdictional question, in the very four corners of the agreement which is already in evidence, the functions and powers of the three-man arbitration committee are specified and that specifies that their decision—not the executive coun- cil's decision later, at any time later—but the decision of the three- man committee made within the specified time limit shall be final and binding. Mr. McCann. I am fully advised on your position with respect to that, ]:)ut I am seeking other information which apparently you do not possess, and that is whether or not in this organization wdiich, as I understand, was first formed about 1886—61 or 62 years ago—whether among the precedents of the American Federation of Labor, whether in the organiation or the establishment of the executive council, there is required of any committee of the American Federation of Labor Council that is appointed, that it should report back to the body that appointed it with respect to the decision that it makes. Now, I am thinking in the terms of the constitution and the bylaws. Mr. Levy. I am giving you my answer with respect to the constitu- tion. Mr. McCann. That is all that you can do?