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 1485 They tlien called us back into the room. They had the directive drawn up and they read it off to ns. They said that they terminated the strike. Of course, all these other unions ^vere only interested to the extent that they were going back to work. We were interested to the extent that we had close to 2,000 people on the job and it meant AA'e were going to have to take these people off their jobs, either transfer them back to other jobs that they had or ask tluMu to leave their employment and be out of work. So I was ver}' much interested in the termination of this strike. I was not on strike and our organization was not on strike, but for the executive council to saj', "We terminate this strike," and that everybody employed as of March 12 should go back onto their jobs, that interested me very much. I either had to make a decision to agree to abide by what this council was doing or tell the council that the lASTE was withdrawing from the American Federation of Labor and we would not be bound by their decision, and I had very little time to make a decision because they wanted an answer then. And I say to you they were very much peeved about what was going on. So within the few minutes I had to make the decision I said, "All right, I'll agree to that. I'll agree to take the men off the jobs and let these people go back on the jobs because this is the first time I have ever known of the American Federation of Labor terminating a strike." ]VTr. Kevrns. What did you plan to do with the replacements? ]SIr. Walsh. I had not thought up to that moment what we were going to do with the replacements. So we said, "All right, we will do it; terminate the strike and let the people go back to work." Then they said we would have 30 days to try and solve our own problems, and if we could not solve them within 30 days this committee which was being appointed would come out and solve the problems for us and whatever decision they made would be final and binding on all parties concerned. Now, that was read to everybody in the council, the employer, myself, and everj^body interested; and reread and changed. There were some slight changes in the wording. We all agreed to it. One of the members of the council wanted to know if the council had a right to do such a thing. Another member of the council said, "Well, whether we have the right or not, we want to get this trouble over and we are going to take this action." So it was taken. Then came the appointment of the committee. Again I was out of the room. I had nothing to do with the appointment of the committee but Vice President Hutcheson was in there and he helped in the a])- pointment of the committee because I understand there was a little controversy about whether Harry Bates was going on there or not. Harry Bates was a member of the building trades. They said, "It would be a good idea not to put a member of the building trades on, he might lean a little toward the carpenters or painters or something like that," so they did not put him on. This I jret from hearsay. I am just testifying to what was told me afterward. 67383—48—vol. 2 29