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)

1336 MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES THE HIGH COST OF TAKING IT The same carpenter served notice on the A. F. of L. officers that if they continued advising interested parties that machinery, which repi'esents the genius and skill of machinists, should he erected, installed, and repaired hy machinist members of the machinists' union, they, the carpenters, would stop paying per capita tax to the A. F. of L. On the basis of this record, the A. F. of L. executive council, in substance, told us that unless we accepted the treatment prescribed by the carpenters and pay our per capita tax, appproximately .$100,(100 a year, for such treatment, we would be kicked out of the A. F. of L. In the case of the operating engineers and the streetcarmen's unions, their record with I'espect to invading the machinists' trade, aided l>y the A. F. of L. officers, is a record just as inconsistent and unethical as is the record of the cai'penters' union case; however, the acts of the operating engineers and street- carmen in breaking agreements and raiding, are the direct result of the job the carpenters accomplished by threatening stoppage of A. F. of L. per capita tax payment. THE VALUE OF A PROMISE Within A. F. of L. circles it is frequently stated that never again will any other union be permitted to defy and challenge the authority and duty of the A. F. of executive council and get away with it. That sounds tine. We await the time when those who utter muffled imprecations will, collectively tell the A. F. of L. executive council that the time has come to correct the mistakes made during their sessions in April 1938 and August 1944. After the I. A. of M. was suspended by the A. F. of L executive coimcil in November 194.5, but prior to our membership having had opportunity to vote by referendum on the grand lodge recommendation to defer per capita tax payments to the A. F. of L.. we were asked to return to the A. F. of L. house of labor on the basis of a promise. Our members recall the promise which prom]ited our pilgrimage back into the A. F. of L. in October 1943. Out of experience, it is natural for our members to say that an unkept promise made in October 1943 has priority over any additional verbal promise that may be made in the future. Mr. McCann. I want the record to show that yon have not offered any exhibit and yon are not goino; to tender anything applicable to this investigation that will not be gladly received by the committee. INIr. Kearns. Mr. Brown might fix it up with- the reporter to get the picture reproduced. Mr. Browist. That is authentic. Mr. McCann. The.se questions are by Mr. Bodle : It is true, is it not, that by the telegram of early 1946 from the producers you were assured that the past practice in regard to dis- tribution of work woidd be followed where there was nothing in the three-man directive covering the situation ? Mr. Brown. That" is correct; and may I supplement that by this further statement, by reading the last sentence of that telegram : Where the decision fails to specifically determine any jurisdictional situation the undersigned will continue to operate as heretofore. It is my information- Mr. McCann. Who is that signed by ? Mr. Brown. The names of the firms and not the individuals. Mr. Kearns. That is already in the record. Mr. Brown. It is my information that in a studio there are pro- jectors used for exhibition purposes, where they have a preshowing of a picture, and maybe a few other operations. That work possibly represents 1 percent, or less than 1 percent, of the projectors in the studios. The very fact that the award was being applied apparently by the producers in cooperation with the lA, in violation of past practice