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 2367 Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, AFL, pointefl out in its issue of December 15, 1945, page 3, that the People's World began supporting Sorrell and his strike after July 1945 when the party line changed. The Hollywood Closeup cited a recent advertisement in the People's World which stated on behalt of the People's World : "Congratulations — Hollywood Strikers : On your victory which is a victory for the workers and the people everywhere in their struggle for democracy, liiglier living standards, and job security." Hollywood Closeup stated that the same People's World advertisement quoted Sorrell as saying : "By its honest and sympathetic support of our struggle to preserve domestic trade unionism in Hollywood, the Daily People's World has earned the support of our union members." The Sorrell strike was settled on Octobei" 12, 1915, with a National Labor Relations Board ruling that Local 1421 of the Painters Union was to be certified as bargaining agent for the striking employees." Mr. Levy. Now, Mr. Chairman, instead of continuing to read the 18 separate items and paragraphs of this dossier, I ask that it be deemed read and included in the record at this point. Mr. Landis. No objection. (The matter referred to is as follows :) Considerable violence characterized the above strike and an investigation to see whether a break-down in law and order had occurred in tlie strilve was ordered by the California State Legislature, according to the Los Angeles Herald Express of November 8, 1945. According to the Los Angeles Examiner of November 8, 1945, Vern llasmussen, Glendale police chief, was one of the witnesses before the California State Assembly committee investigating the breakdown of law and order. Rasmussen, according to this newspaper account, testified that one of the picket lieutenants at the Warner Bros, studio strike was Tony Schiavone, a former San Quentin convict, and that another of the pickets was K;nil Freed, wi'iter and publisher of the Fifty-ninth Assembly District Coiiimunists Club pamphlets which list Freed as head of the club. The Los Angeles Examiner for February 26, 1946, reported that the State supx'eme court in San Francisco had denied a writ of habeas corpus to Herbert K. Sorrell and had ordered him to serve a 16-day jail sentence for violation of a court restraining order. This jail sentence, plus a $1,700 fine, had been imposed on Sorrell by Superior Coiut Judge Allan W. Ashburn, for violating a resti'aining order and engaging in rioting in connection with the above strike. The Los Angeles Times of May 15, 1946, reflects that Herbert K. Sorrell had also been prosecuted for rioting in connection with the film strike and picketing at the Warner Bros, studioin October 1945, and that he had been sentenced to serve 5 days in jail and pay a $50 fine by Judge Raymond L. Reid of the probate California police court. The se<:-ond recent strike led by Herbert K. Sorrell began on September 2T, 1946, and is still in progress. A jurisdictional dispute, like the one previously referred to, the strike has been directed mostly at the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, AFL, and the battlefield has been located chiefly at the entrance of the Warner Bros, studios, according to the California Conmiittee on Un-American Activities (1947 report, p. 172). The Communist Party in Los Angeles has pledged its support to the striking unions with the declaration that the Marxist theory of scientific socialism provides the answer to "the fight of the labor movement for its just demands." according to an editorial from the Hollywood Citizens-News for .January 21, 1947. Support has also come from the Daily Worker, oflicial Communist Party organ, which in its issue of June 19, 1946, stated that "Sorrell has carried on an experieuf'ed battle for his union against raiding tactics of reactionary leaders of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees." The California Committee on Un-American Activities meanwhile further stated that "The Conference of Studio Unions, headed by Sorrell, on strike for over a year, is Communist-dominated, inspired, and directed for the purpose of capturing the American Federation of Labor unions in the motion-picture industry"' (1947report. p. 370). In connection with this current strike, Herbert K. Sorrell was indicted in November 1946. on three counts of conspiracy to violate an injunction, conspiracy to commit imlawful assembly and con.spiraey to attempt to commit assault, according to the People's World for August 14, 1947, page 3. He is scheduled to come to trial on November 3, 1947, the new.spaper said. Roy M. Brewer, international representative of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Motion Picture Machine Operators, AFL,