1937 Fleischer Studios strike
Picketing spread to other locations, including Max and Dave's residences, and the union initiated a boycott of Fleischer cartoons that was somewhat effective in getting the productions pulled from theaters.
At the same time, however, Paramount Pictures began to pressure Fleischer Studios into accepting a deal that would end the strike and boycott, as they believed that the negative press was beginning to hurt their live-action productions.
In late September, the union and company agreed to a tentative deal, and the strike ended on October 12, with the strikers returning to work the following day.
The compromise agreement resulted in the union winning many of the key goals that they had pushed for, such as pay increases and guaranteed time off, though the company prevented the studio from becoming a closed shop.
However, within a few years of the move, the studio experienced financial difficulties related to the production of two full-length animated films and was ultimately absorbed by Paramount Pictures as a subsidiary.
[1] The brothers had been notable pioneers in the early American animation industry, and their new company was founded to produce cartoons to be distributed by Paramount Pictures.
[1] In the early years of the studio, there was a strong sense of camaraderie among the employees,[1] and according to historians Michael Barrier and Richard Koszarski, Max was a paternalistic boss in his role as president.
[5][6] By 1937, the company had over 150 employees working at its New York City studio,[note 1] which occupied several floors of a building at 1600 Broadway in Manhattan, just north of Times Square.
[1][6] During the early years of the company, animation in the United States was changing from a primarily artisan-driven industry to one shaped by the concept of the assembly line.
[2] Wages at the company had initially been considered fairly good,[5] with animator Shamus Culhane stating that he had had a weekly salary of about $100 while working at Fleischer Studios in 1930.
[7] However, pay across the board decreased as the decade continued,[14] with animator Don Figlozzi stating that his starting salary while working for the company in 1935 was $27 per week.
[27] While it was illegal to light a match in the studio because of the presence of highly-flammable nitrate film, Taras and some other employees believed the termination was due in part to his union activities.
[27] On April 12, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the National Labor Relations Act was constitutional, leading to a notable uptick in organizing activity throughout the country.
[27] Among the union's demands were an end to the speedup, a 12 percent increase in wages, paid time off for sick leave and vacation, double pay for overtime, a 35-hour workweek, and a closed shop.
[27] Nizer argued that the union's demands would have increased the overhead, which he said was impossible for the company to accommodate because Fleischer Studios had actually not made a profit last year.
[29] Many of the picketers carried signs that had humorous slogans referencing the cartoons they worked on, such as, "We Can't Get Much Spinach on Salaries as Low as $15.00 a Week" and "Nudist Betty?
[9] Shortly after the strike began, several Fleischer employees who had been on their dinner break returned to the studio to find the picket line blocked entry to the building.
[29] The fighting lasted for about 30 minutes, during which time several individuals sustained injuries, such as when inker Gill Fox threw his non-union supervisor Frank Paiker into the street.
[29] This first night of picketing received widespread coverage from local media, including articles in the Daily News and the New York Herald Tribune.
[32] Some notable employees who continued to work for Fleischer during the strike included Bob Kane, who would go on to cocreate the comic book character Batman,[33] and Lillian Friedman Astor, the first female to be given a role as a studio animator.
[34][note 2] During the strike, workers at the studio would produce the cartoon Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves.
[35] Over the course of the next week, many animators began to gradually return to work, and by that Thursday, only seven people from the higher departments of the company were continuing to honor the picket line.
[32] By the end of the week, all of these individuals except one, animator Eli Brucker, had returned to work, and the company began to hire strikebreakers to replace the strikers in the lower departments.
[5] On June 8, Local 306 officially announced its support for the strikers and attempted to have the AFL add Fleischer Studios to its "unfair list", which would have barred union projectionists from screening their cartoons.
[36] Though the company and union were holding intermittent meetings, there had not been a major breakthrough, as Max Fleischer continued to reject CADU's claims to be a legitimate bargaining representative for the employees.
[38] A Paramount executive became the chief negotiator for the studio, and New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia helped oversee a resumption of talks in the later part of the year.
[43] Though details of the agreement were not made public at the time, the newspaper reported that it was a compromise that would see some wage increases, a 40-hour work week, and other benefits that the union had pushed for.
[5] On October 12, representatives for the union and studio met at the offices of Arthur B. Krim, a legal counsel for the company, and agreed to end the strike.
[48] Ultimately, Fleischer would produce two feature-length films out of Miami, Gulliver's Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941), both of which proved to be financial disappointments for the company.
[5][30] Other organized labor events during this time included a six-day lockout of animators for Looney Tunes at Warner Bros. in May 1941 and a union drive at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in 1940.
