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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2052 MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES Mr. Kearns. Was 1421 a member of the A. F. of L. ? Mr. BoDLE. A members of the A. F. of L. It was an affiliate of the Brotherhood of Painters and an affiliate of the Conference of Studio Unions. Mr. Kearns. Then there is where the producers have a different way of looking at it. Mr. Landis. But it was not mentioned in the 1942 contract? Mr. SoRREix. 1421 wrote their last contract in 1942. Mr. Landis. For 5 years? Mr. SoRRELIi. No. Mr. Landis. For how long? Mr. SoRRELii. Well, it presumably was for a year, it went from year to year. In 1943 we didn't have such good luck. In 1944 we still didn't have any luck because we had the argument about their absorbing the small group called the Screen Set Decoratore Independent. Now the screen set decorators "voted unanimously to join 1421, came over, paid dues and went along for months before they found there was any objection by the producers. It was they who had the 5-year contract and it was that contract that the producers violated by not saying to them, "We tear up your contract or we accept 1421 as your bargaining agent." They accepted it in principle by dealing with the business agent of the 1421 group, then all of a sudden when it came time to sign contracts they said, "Your title is clouded to these ]:)eop]e. The lATSE claims them. Go get certified." Mr. Kearns. Was Mr. Casey handling the labor relations? Mr. Sorrell. Mr. Casey was the one who told me to go and get certified. I discussed it with Mr. Casey. I told him it was an outrage. He said, "That's right, but I don't run this, that is orders of the attorneys and they have to get certified." Every time I would meet him he seemed to have the idea that the attorneys were running the labor relations and that they would say we had to be certified, if we couldn't be certified they could not deal with us and we couldn't get contracts. Mr. Landis. Does that take us up to the election of May or not ? Mr. Sorreij:.. That takes us up to the National Labor Relations Board. I think I should sfo on a little bit there because it was while we were in the National Labor Relations Board hearings that we finally went on strike. I was on the stand just before the strike started. While I was on the stand I asked everyone there. "Look, what good is this? We are going to live up to whatever any Government agency said, we always have. But it seems the painters are the only ones who are willing to live up to anything." Up to date the lATSE had not made it clear whether they would or would not abide by the dicision of the National Labor Relations Board. So I said, "I want to know now. if anyone here is going to abide by this decision or is this just another stall?" I could get no answer from anyone. The business representatives and the committee from 1421 went back and told their people and their was no holding them thereafter. The strike started.