Interesting: The Disney Strike in 1941 from "Cartoonist Union History" site

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The Disney strike, 1941


http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_i/HISTORY/HISTRY4A.GIF
The Mouse Factory proved to be the biggest challenge. Disney artists considered themselves the patricians of the industry, under Walt's benevolent rule.
But anger over the long-promised profit sharing from Snow White, alienation over blunt maneuvers by Disney lawyer Gunther Lessing, and other conditions made the workers sympathetic to the call to unite.




character © Walt Disney Pictures


Walt felt personally betrayed when Art Babbitt (right), his highest-paid animator, resigned as president of the Disney company union to join the Guild. Three days after Disney brazenly fired Babbitt, the Disney strike began on May 29, 1941.


http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_i/HISTORY/HISTRY4B.GIF



http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_i/HISTORY/HISTRY4C.GIF
Above: Looking north on Buena Vista, strikers picket the Disney main gate.
Picketers camped out in the vacant lot across the street
(where St. Joseph's Medical Center is now located),
and ate catered buffet meals contributed by sympathetic union
restaurant chefs from Chadney's and the Smoke House.



http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_i/HISTORY/HISTRY4D.GIF

http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_i/HISTORY/HISTRY4E.GIF
The strike lasted for five weeks, forever tearing the social fabric of the studio.
FDR sent a Federal mediator, who found in the Guild's favor
on every issue. Walt left on a Latin American tour to ease tensions.

Fearing the loss of government contracts
and the recall of bank loans,
Disney signed and has been a union shop ever since.



http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_h/_history_h/HISTORY4.HTM
(http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_h/_history_h/HISTORY4.HTM)

The unionists got caricatured in Dumbo as well as the clowns "demanding a raise".

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http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_h/_history_h/HISTORY1.HTM



CARTOONISTS UNIONS:
A LEGACY OF ARTISTS HELPING ARTISTS
a survey of our history


compiled by Tom Sito (http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_h/TSBIO.HTM)


The following pages are a compilation of an exhibit tracing the history of labor unions in screen cartooning. The full exhibit is on display at our headquarters building at 4729 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, California (http://www.mpsc839.org/_Home/directions.HTM). The office is open Mondays through Fridays, from 8:30 am to 5 pm. THE '30's


http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_i/HISTORY/HISTRY1A.GIF http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_i/HISTORY/HISTRY1B.GIF
The earliest attempts to organize animation studios, at Iwerks in 1931 and Van Beuren in 1935, were unsuccessful. In 1935, Sadie Bodin, inker and scene planner at Van Beuren, was fired for her union activities and became the first person to picket an animation studio. The Wagner Act, making it illegal to fire someone for wanting a union, was not yet in force. Left: Sadie Bodin in 1935; Right: Bodin in 1987.

http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_i/HISTORY/HISTRY1C.GIF

characters © King Features Syndicate

Above: from a CADU flyer.

In 1936, the Commercial Artists and Designers Union (CADU) set out to organize the Max Fleischer Studios (best known for Popeye and Betty Boop), and other shops in New York and Los Angeles.

http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_i/HISTORY/HISTRY1D.GIF

Above: the picket line at Fleischer Studios (Marty Taras, center).

In 1937, after Fleischer refused to recognize their union and fired fifteen artists for complaining, the Fleischer artists "hit the bricks" for the first cartoonists' strike. After five months of noisy boycotts and demonstrations, Paramount forced Fleischer to sign with the CADU. This was the first union contract in animation.

Fleischer retaliated by moving his operation to Florida, a state with a strong anti-union bias. To lure artists to Florida, Fleischer had to pay the highest salaries in the business. The costs incurred fighting the union broke the company, and Paramount took over and moved it back to New York where it became Famous Studios.



http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_h/_history_h/HISTORY7.HTM




Local 839 is formed, 1947-1952

http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_i/HISTORY/HISTRY7A.GIF In 1947, the year that Walt Disney testified that the Screen Cartoonists Guild was taking orders from Moscow [New York Daily News, October 24, 1947, left], the Guild's executive board included Disney master animators Ken O'Brien, Ollie Johnston, Les Clark and Eric Larson; also MGM animator Michael Lah and Warners great "Bobe" Cannon.
After breaking the CSU, the studios and the IATSE cooperated with the anti-communist "witch hunters" to break the Screen Cartoonists Guild. In 1951 the cartoonists at Disney, Warners and Lantz voted to join the IATSE, and Locals 839 (L. A.) and 841 (New York) were chartered in 1952. The Guild continued as an independent union, gradually shrinking until they merged with the Teamsters in 1971.