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)

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1978 MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES The painters picketed 6 hours a day at first, and later I think they reduced it to 4 hours a day, or pay a fine of $5 per day. Mr. Landis. How does it come that they would spend more time than the carpenters ? Mr. SoRRELL. We were more intense on it. That was the will of the majority of the painters. Each one took it up in their own union separately. Of course, later there was some difficulty. The painters said, "Why do we have to work 4 hours and the carpenters only work 2 hours, and the carpenter only gets fined $2 or $3, and we get fined $5?-' and those things. And we would say, "Well, if you want to change it, this is the place, at the meeting." And eventually they would go out, not changing it. Now, where strike benefits were paid, they were onlj; paid to men who were registered on that picket line every day in our organization. Some men didn't try to work. We had many men who have been foremen and in one case in particular, Joe Case, of Paramount, had been on that picket line, I think, every day since the lock-out occurred. He was formerly the head of the department at Paramount. He is a man over 75 years old. Later because of his age he was demoted to foreman, which meant that he was just under tlie head of the department, but his pay was never reduced, and he has been on the line continuously. And he doesn't put in 2 hours or 4 hours ; he is usually there 5, 6, or 8 hours. We have many people like that. And he doesn't ask for any strike benefits, because he is ready to retire. When this thing is over, he is going to work a week and celebrate, and retire. He is a man of considerable means. The electricians worked it differently, the IBEW. Their men all picketed, and if you had a good picket record, you were switched at the independent studios every 2 weeks. If you worked 2 weeks, then you would picket 3 or 4 weeks. And that worked out all right for the electricians, but it wouldn't work for the painters, because certain artists have certain ways of doing things, so that the studios want that one man all the time. Now, we assessed those people who were working and didn't picket $5 a day. If the^? were in the higher brackets of work, that is, earning over $200 a week, they paid $60 a week. That money came into the treasury and was paid out in strike benefits to those who diidn't get any work. This carried on until we made this motion, or until we put over the resolution, which said that you could go to work anywhere. Then we altered the plan, and I have forgotten— I will have to get the minutes if you want the present plan we worked under. Now, all picketing by painters is voluntary. At times I can name gates where you can go and find painters all the time, because they took over certain dates that they would picket, and there is always, sometimes one, sometimes five or six, painters at those certain gates. The carpenters are doing the most picketing. The carpenters have received considerably more help from their international than the painters. Now, the machinists have received considerable help from their international, and I think that if you want to find out their plan, the best one to testify would be Mr. D. T. Wayne, who is here, because I can't keep in mind all the various unions' plans for picketing, because tliere are several unions, and there are several methods.