Thread by @possumlives

I asked my genius friend @LuceCaroline who teaches labor history at UCLA what past events striking WGA writers can look to for inspiration, and she told me about the War for Warner Brothers in 1945... #WGAStrong iatse728.org/about-us/histo…

@LuceCaroline The intro on the IATSE 728 page I linked above says it all. "It started as a minor labor dispute between a studio union and the producers and ended up as the bloodiest labor strike in Hollywood history...a story of murder, intrigue, bribery, collusion and Communist baiting."

IATSE had Local 37, [which] controlled most of the back lot crafts. When some members of Local 37 launched a rebellion against mob control of the IATSE, the international broke up Local 37 and in 1939 formed four separate locals: Local 44, Local 80, Local 727, and Local 728.

The other union was CSU (Confederation of Studio Unions), and when Set Decorators made the switch over the studios refused to recognize their new union, which led to 10,500 CSU workers going on strike in 1945. Huge stars like Gregory Peck and Lillian Gish supported them!

IATSE workers refused to cross the pickets even though the union asked them to (due to mafia reasons lol), and IATSE repeatedly tried to encroach on CSU's jobs. They basically rebelled against the entire union.

When CSU held a major picket at Warner Bros, WB sent strikebreakers, Chicago goons, and county police to attack the workers. They drove cars into the pickets and police threw tear gas. The conflict carried on through 1946, when the studios demanded IATSE take CSU strikers' jobs.

CSU was forced to strike *again* in 1946 due to being locked out of those jobs, despite all the losses from 1945! They were harassed and arrested en masse constantly. The CSU employed *fascinating* strategic picket tactics:

The turning point in the lockout was a number of important IATSE post-production workers solidarity striking with CSU. Five IATSE members' homes were literally BOMBED as a result of this solidarity strike. Ronald Reagan (of SAG at the time) even stepped in here!

I recommend reading the full story I linked above, but after this point Taft-Hartley, HUAC, some SAG betrayal, mafia tension, and more entered the picture. Dozens of picketers were fined $10k each, many were jailed, and all eventually subsided by 1950.

The full story is dark, but I'm inspired by the role that solidarity strikes from IATSE workers and picketing by other unions played in supporting the CSU workers.

https://twitter.com/LuceCaroline/status/1663295385048330240