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 1157 October 1945 meeting, which was held in Cincinnati, Ohio. That direc- tive reads as follows: International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Ma- chine Operators of the United States and Canada, Brotherhood of Painters, Deco- rators, and Paperhangers of America, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, etc.: Hollywood studio union strike and jurisdiction con- troversy. 1. The council directs tliat the Hollywood strike be terminated immediately. 2. Tliat all employees return to work immediately. 3. That for a period of 30 d:iys the International unions affected make every attempt to settle the jurisdictional questions involve<i in the dispute. 4. That after tlie expiration of 30 days a committee of three members of the executive council of the American Federation of Labor shall investig^ate and determine within 30 days all jurisdictional questions still involved. 5. That all parties concerned, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada ; the' United Brotlierhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America ; the International Association of Machinists; the United Association of Plumbers and Steamtitters of the United States and Canada ; the Brotherliood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of America ; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Woricers of America ; and the Building Service Employees International Union, accept as final and binding such decisions and determinations as the executive council committee of three may finally render. Now, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I submit that our committee of three vice presidents, Felix H. Knight, chairman, William C. Birthright, and myself did proceed to Hollywood in keeping with this A. F. of L. directive, and conducted what we thought were thorough hearings investigating the true picture as we saw it. After M-e had conducted our hearings—and, mind you, gentlemen, we were limited to 30 days, we did not have the time that this very fine committee has here Mr. Kearns. Pardon me, at that point. There was some question raised yesterday in Mr. Johnston's statement. You really had 60 days; is that correct? Mr. DoHERTY. No, sir; that is not correct. The unions involved, Mr. Chairman, had 30 days in which they could settle their own disputes. Mr. Kearns. Before you moved in ? ]\Ir. Doherty. Before we moved in. Mr. Ke.vrns. But you really only served 30 days ? Mr. Doherty. We had 30 days within w^hich to hand down this decision. If you will check back upon the testimony which our com- mittee gave to your committee at Los Angeles during August of last 3'ear, you will find that we repeatedly stated that the committee of three vice presidents pleaded with the seven unions involved to settle their own jurisdictional grievances because we knew full well that any decision handed down by us would not be totally acceptable. That is exactly what happened. After we conducted these exhaustive hearings and after we handed down this directive, which, by the way, we still feel is the best possible kind of a decision that could have been handed down under the circumstances, it became apparent that at least one union, namely, the Brotherhood of Carpenters, would not work under the agreement. Then some 8 or 9 months later, August of 1946, to be specific, the executive council of the American Federation of Labor instructed its three-man committee to hand down a clarification. And I think in fairness I should tell you that