29 The Guild and the CIO
“Still with chip-munk intelligence, you go round and round on your Picket treadmill,” read the latest bulletin from the Committee of 21. “Now you cling to the forlorn hope expressed in those in-FAMOUS LAST WORDS, ‘Herbert Stewart (Communist Party Card #60622) Sorrell will win again like he did in 1937.’ . . . Bioff has never compromised with ‘the commies.’ He knows (what you do not seem to realize) that to believe in or string along with a communist pledge to-day is to get a knife in your back tomorrow.”1
Sorrell’s middle name was Knott. The Disney strikers responded by writing in their own leaflets: “We don’t know, of course, but it begins to look as if someone in the 21 Club has been hitting the weed.”2
Sorrell had been labeled a Communist by the press, by the studio, and most recently by the AFL-supported IATSE. Now that the AFL withdrew its support from him and the Guild, he informed the CIO that he was ready to accept their help.
On Friday July 11, the CIO officially adopted a resolution to “extend full support to the Screen Cartoonists, Local 852,” and to have every local CIO union follow suit.3 The CIO said that they had long been eager to move into the film industry, and now they moved fast.4 That evening, all CIO projectionists, encompassing fifty-five theaters, voted to cease screening Disney films.5 Representing between one hundred thousand and four hundred thousand unionists nationwide, the CIO also put Walt Disney Productions on its own Unfair list. A new boycott had begun.6
Other unions stepped up. The Screen Actors Guild continued to honor the Disney strike. The local Machinists Union had unanimously voted to honor the picket line.7 Technicolor once again stopped processing Disney film8. The Laboratory Technicians Union, whose members worked at Technicolor, doubled its financial contribution to the strike.9
Strikers’ efforts intensified. A mass picket line outside the RKO Hillstreet Theatre turned into a “riot,” requiring the police to be summoned and ending the run of The Reluctant Dragon at the theater after only seven days.10 All over the country, pickets surrounded theaters that tried to show The Reluctant Dragon. That weekend, the Disney strikers engaged in a “handbill blitz,” reaching for public support like never before.
Sketch by striker Bob Totten given to his sweetheart, fellow striker (and future wife) Betty Smith, depicting how the weeks took their toll.
All the while, federal labor conciliator Stanley White was spending his days at the Disney studio assessing and examining, speaking with Disney strike leaders and Disney company executives alike. White wired a report to the Department of Labor in Washington, DC. On Sunday night, July 13, the director of the US Conciliation Service, Dr. John R. Steelman, wired a proposed settlement from Washington to end the strike.
The strike was on day forty-eight when on Monday, July 14, the US government offered to arbitrate. At their meeting on the knoll, the strikers unanimously voted to accept whatever the government decided. The Guild wired to Steelman, “We, as patriotic Americans, accept your proposal.”11
Within an hour of the strikers’ vote, Walt Disney Productions rejected the government’s offer.
Gunther Lessing blasted the Labor Relations Board, protesting that Steelman did not “possess full information regarding the situation.”12 He stated that the strikers constituted a minority and that the majority of Disney artists were represented by the ACA, “apparently being convinced that the guild leadership is Communistic.” He accused the Labor Relations Board of thwarting the ACA’s attempts to certify “at every turn by stalling [and] meddling . . . which in my opinion almost warrants Congressional investigation.”13
But the company’s refusal came in haste. At least one of the company’s New York–based investors had just visited the Disney plant and reported to his investment agent back east that the strike was about to be settled. The company was guilty of a top-tier faux pas: Gunther Lessing had refused the arbitration services without the knowledge or approval of the shareholders.14
Babbitt wouldn’t have it. “The company’s interest, in the eyes of Walt Disney, is evidently superior to the national interest,” he announced. “The company has made it clear that it would prefer to deal with Willie Bioff, a discredited labor racketeer, than with its own Government. We don’t fear the results of an impartial investigation of our dispute. If Walt Disney and Gunther Lessing are so certain of the justice of their cause, why are they unwilling to present the facts to the Federal Government?”15
It appeared to Babbitt that Walt’s stubbornness was leading the negotiations nowhere fast. Maybe if Walt could see the light from his most trusted artists, they could end this. Babbitt picked up the phone. He was going to attempt some unofficial business, without the consent or vote of his fellow committee members. If he were to succeed, he’d be a hero.
Late that morning of July 15, Fred Moore and Ward Kimball were working on Dumbo when Wilfred Jackson and Norm Ferguson approached them, asking if they would have lunch with Babbitt, Tytla, and some Disney Guilders.
Over lunch at Sardi’s, Babbitt and the others told the four loyalists their aim: they hadn’t dreamed the strike would go on for seven weeks. They said that both sides should unite before the whole studio collapsed—and that the non-strikers should get Walt to recognize the Guild.
Ward Kimball broke the sobering news to Babbitt’s group, that the studio was finding out that it could do fine without the artists on strike. He added that the name-calling on the picket lines had made a lot of enemies. Babbitt acknowledged that he was as much to blame as anyone.
The meeting ended in a deadlock. As Kimball reflected that day, “They were there to guide us through the wilderness; we didn’t want to be guided.”16
Around this time, a strike flyer appeared, called “Primer of the Disney Strike,” with typical fervor and whimsy:
A is for ARTIST, anonymous gent;
They said, “He’s a comer!” the day that he went.
B is for BIOFF the eminent thug,
Fresh from his sophomore year in the jug
C is for CONTRACTS, illegal and phony,
Walt gets the gravy and we get baloney.
D is for DISNEY, who lays down the law,
The only great artist who never could draw.
E is for EVERYONE working for Walt,
Earning the sugar but getting the salt.
F is for FIELD OF ALFALFA, where dwells
The Baron of Burbank asleep on his cels.
G is for GOONS sent to stymie the Guild;
They all got away before any were killed.
H is for HUMORIST, topper of gags,
He leaves us in stitches, and also in rags.
I is for INKERS, who ink with an “F”,
When passing the pickets they’d like to be deaf.
J is for JOB, some kind of a bizness
To keep a guy up while he’s working at Disney’s.
K is for KNIFE that’s slipped in the spine
When the studio hands out a contract to sign.
L is for LOGGERHEADS; speaking of that
That’s where the Guild and the Disneys are at.
M is for MONEY the studio owes,
For which it has shown us its thumb to its nose.
N is NEGOTIATE, isn’t that silly?
The Guild wanted Uncle [Sam] and Walt wanted Willie.
O is for OVERHEAD, soon to be put
Out of the studio, under the foot.
P is for PANIC, the scabs who pass by
Are jumpy as grandma the 4th of July.
Q is for QUOTA of pictures we made,
For which we earned shekels which never were paid.
R is RELUCTANT, descriptive of Gunny
When kindly requested to pay us our money.
S is for SCABBY; approach him on tip-toe,
He’s riding to glory asleep on his Scripto.
T is for TEMPUS which fugits away
While artists are slaving for nothing a day.
U is the U.S.; the Studio feels
They’d rather have Bioff to handle their deals.
V is for Victory; that’s what we’ve got
Whether the studio knows it or not.
W stands for the generous guy
Who gives his men anything—up in the sky.
X is for Xtra the artists all do
for which they are fired when the picture is through.
Y is for YESWALT, the password to know
If you have any hopes for your salary to grow.
Z is for ZOMBIE, or Victory Scotch;
Drink ’em down double and let the scabs watch.17
On Wednesday, July 16, the Screen Cartoonists Guild sent telegrams to the presidents of the AFL and of the Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators of America, asking them to fire Aubrey Blair.18
On the evening of July 22, a large meeting was held to negotiate a settlement. Roy Disney was present with other Disney managers, along with representatives from the Guild, the Los Angeles Central Labor Council, and other Hollywood craft unions.19 There was debate about certain terms for a union contract, like whether the strikers should receive back pay and whether to reinstate the eighteen Guild artists fired in May.
Eager to settle, Roy relented and agreed on arbitration. He called Dr. Steelman’s US Conciliation office and followed up with a telegram.20 Gunther Lessing and Bill Littlejohn each wired Dr. Steelman that they agreed to Steelman’s proposal of a three-person arbitration board.21 The Los Angeles Central Labor Council lifted the Disney boycott, “trusting that we may have a pleasant and friendly relationship in the future,” wrote J. W. Buzzell.22 (Nonetheless, the San Fernando Valley Central Labor Council maintained the boycott.)23
On July 24 the US Conciliation commissioner, James F. Dewey, was assigned to arbitrate. In advance of arbitration, he would try to mediate a solution between Walt Disney Productions and the Guild.24 This infuriated the Disney loyalists of the ACA, who voted to strike if they weren’t considered in negotiations. Dewey did not gratify them with a response; unsurprisingly, the ACA did not go on strike.25
These non-strikers appeared to be more in agreement with the Guild than not. One of the ACA members wrote, “I have come to the conclusion that Walt is alright and is not trying to do us dirty, but that he is pig-headed and badly advised, and his head lawyer [Lessing] is . . . very dangerous when it comes to dealing with employees, most of whom . . . only want a fair deal with their employer. He is a dirty little so-and-so, I think, and really responsible for a lot of the trouble.”26
James F. Dewey, federal arbiter of the Disney strike, seen here in 1941.
On Monday, July 28, commissioner Dewey held his first meetings with Disney executives and Guild leaders. Afterward, Roy Disney composed a memo for all Disney strikers that welcomed them back: “Effective at 8:30 am, Tuesday, 7-29-41 you are re-instated on the Walt Disney Productions payroll at your salary in effect as of May 28, 1941.”27
On Tuesday, July 29, the leaders of Disney management and the Disney strike sat in a government building for an arbitration hearing with US arbitrators Dewey and White. Roy Disney and Gunther Lessing were there, as well as Art Babbitt. Lessing complained that the Labor Relations Board favored the strikers, a position that Walt subsequently adopted.28
On Wednesday, July 30, Gunther Lessing and Bill Littlejohn submitted a basic legal agreement to end the strike. Dewey and White amended the agreement later that day. On August 2, the Disney strikers received a union contract:
Walt Disney Productions would be a closed shop. Union membership was required for all.
Union heads could receive leaves of absence for union meetings.
All low-level artists would receive a raise. Every employee earning less than fifty dollars a week would get a 25 percent increase in salary over twelve months. The wage scales were clearly stipulated, making them the highest salaries in the animation industry.29
The workweek would be 8:30–5:30 Monday through Friday. Overtime would pay time and a half for weekends and double for holidays.
Men would get five sick days a year, women ten.
Women would be rated in classifications equal to men.
The union could protest termination of any employee through a grievance committee.
Screen credit would be determined at a future hearing.
The studio would be required to bear a union label.
There would be no discrimination against the strikers, and the union could post flyers on the company bulletin board.
Strikers were to receive one hundred hours of back pay.
Babbitt (the only striker mentioned by name) would be protected from any discriminatory repercussion.30
The strikers lit a bonfire of their picket signs.31 The Disney strike was finally over. It had spanned nine weeks to the day. It would also leave the studio forever changed.