The screen writer (Apr-Oct 1948)

writers' bargaining agent. They refused to do so. At the annual meeting in 1938 Charles Brackett was elected President, Philip Dunne, Vice-President, Maurice Rapf, Secretary and Ring Lardner, Jr., Treasurer. On February 21, 1939, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against Universal, Hal Roach, Selznick, 20th Century-Fox, Loew's, Inc., Warners, RKO, Columbia, Paramount, and Goldwyn, in which it was stated that these producers had committed various unfair labor practices and setting March 6 as the date for a hearing on the complaint. Prolonged litigation ensued. The hearings were postponed. The Guild amended its complaint August 1, 1938. After a hearing in October, the Board issued an Intermediate Report, to which exceptions were filed by the Guild and the Producers. A period until July 20, 1940, was allowed for the filing of briefs. In November 1939, a new set of officers was elected : Sheridan Gibney, President; Sidney Buchman, VicePresident ; Dwight Taylor, Secretary ; Boris Ingster, Treasurer. A year later Mr. Gibney and Mr. Buchman were re-elected, while Dore Schary was elected Secretary and Lester Cole, Treasurer. On November 14, 1940, the National Labor Relations Board dismissed the complaint. The Guild had entered into a stipulation on October 28 that the case might be dismissed. The Producers had met with Guild representatives for a period of two months, and had finally agreed to terminate the Screen Playwrights Contract if an agreement were reached with SWG. Because of this, Mr. Janofsky thought that the Board might rule against the Guild. Mr. Leiserson, of the NLRB, was quoted by Mr. Janofsky as having said before a House committee that the Guild's case was "smelly." The negotiations with the producers began early in March and ended the last of April, with no agreement having been reached. T N October, 1940, negotiations with -*-the Producers were resumed. Sheridan Gibney, Ralph Block and Mr. Janofsky, represented the Guild. A Guild credit arbitration system was set up, and the Producers agreed to an 80% Guild shop. A Basic Agreement between Producers and Writers for a period of six months resulted from these negotiations. On December 30, it was reported that Republic refused to sign the agreement. A tentative draft of a proposed agreement with the Artists Manager's Guild was accepted by the Board January 6, 1941. The Guild made a loan to the Radio Writers Guild to finance a trip east for negotiations. Senator Robert W. Kenny, and his associate, Morris Cohn, became Guild attorneys on January 27, 1941. A special meeting voted that the Guild begin negotiations with the Artists Managers Guild. The Board was given authority to discipline a member for dual unionism. Negotiations with the producers continued. In April and May there was discussion of the need for a strike vote. The membership on May 1, 1941, endorsed the demands of the Guild Bargaining Committee and instructed the Board to call a membership meeting to consider and discuss the advisability of taking a strike vote in case these demands were not reasonably met by the Producers. A membership meeting, the minutes of which are missing, was held on May 19. Sheridan Gibney telephoned Luise Sillcox the next day and suggested that the League Council appoint a special emergency committee with full power to take whatever action seemed appropriate in the event that the SWG was forced to strike. The members were notified on June 9 to hold themselves in readiness for an emergency meeting on 48 hours call, and were told that the Bargaining Committee was meeting with the Producers on June 13. At a membership meeting on June 16, 1941, the Board recommended to the membership the acceptance of the Producers' counter-proposals, which called for a seven year contract, and a minimum wage of $i00 for writers who had screen credits, or who had worked 52 weeks in three years. The membership accepted the counter-proposals unanimously. The drafting of the contract was then begun, but it was not until May, 1942, that it was signed. In June, '41, the Board decided to postpone negotiations with the Artists Managers until the agreement with the Producers was signed. In November, 1941, Sidney Buchman was elected President, Ralph Block, Vice-President, Robert Rossen, Secretary, and Lester Cole, Treasurer. Shortly after the outbreak of war, the Guild joined with the Radio Writers Guild, the Publicists, Readers and Cartoonists Guilds, and the Newspaper Guild in forming the Hollywood Writers Mobilization, through which assignments to various Government writing jobs were made, material for USO camp shows was prepared. At the annual meeting in 1942, Mary McCall was elected President, Lester Cole, Vice-President, Sheridan Gibney and James Hilton, VicePresidents, Talbot Jennings, Secretary, and Hugo Butler, Treasurer. The Guild cooperated with all other industry groups in the War Activities Committee of the Motion w^ Picture Industry. In 1943, the Presi \\ 1flnt of the Guild became Chairman *j. of the Hollywood Division of that ^< all-industry committee. PS These are 10 years of Guild history and moving forward, still fighting for the dignity and security of those who w — organization, expansion, disruption, J_. reorganization, expansion, recognition. ^ With the more recent story of the ^ Guild, most of you are familiar. ^ There have been gales which have ^ shaken us since 1943, not so violent as the 1936 hurricane, but gales, none hH theless. In the next fifteen years, big r. winds will blow on us, but when they |_ subside, we will still be on our feet w have chosen motion pictures as thei r H Pi field of " 'writing' within the constitutional sense." LU The Screen Writer, April, 1948 31