Chapter 2: Beginning of the Local

 During the upsurge in American white collar unionism in 1940 to 1950.^[1]  Local 161 was chartered as the Assistant Directors Local Union 161 on April 10 1944.^[2]  During this time, the union focused on improving working conditions in television since wages were considerably lower when compared to the motion picture industry.  In November of 1948 under the leadership of Sal Scoppa RThe then business agent of 161, workers were able to negotiate wage increases for theatrical and commercial TV Productions in their contracts. There are no archival documents that provide any clue to the effects of these changes on local members. But, given the continued growth of the local 161 I will hypothesize  that this victory improved the lives of union members. This victory also could serve as a propaganda victory showing that this union local was capable of improving the lives of white collar professionals within the entertainment industry. The ability for union locals to win victories for its members is connected to union density in an industry. During a contract battle if a union is able to command a majority of workers in the industry when they strike the company won’t be able to hire replacement workers, or continue running their business.

In 1952, the first constitution and basic agreement for all production Locals was established on the East Coast, and Local 161 incorporated a number of crafts including assistant directors, script supervisors and production coordinators. The “Script Girls” roles— the original term for script supervisors — were added to the 161 chapter, which increased membership. This position is still primarily composed of women.^[3] In addition in 1954, script clerks became members of the local and in 1961, the script clerks officially changed their title to script supervisors to align with the sister local on the West Coast to maintain uniformity across all union chapters.

Production coordinators were integrated into the Local through a similar process. Originally, production coordinators were known as Production Secretaries. In 1963, production secretaries were organized into the Local and the title of Production Secretaries was changed to production coordinators in 1967 for unexplained reasons. At the same time, the assistant directors bargaining unit merged with the Directors Guild of America (DGA). By the 1960s, the Local had changed from representing only assistant directors to representing script supervisors and production coordinators while providing these workers with significant protections in the form of union contracts with major employers. These contracts were the site of major struggles in subsequent decades.

This drive to win concessions and transform the terms of labor and management relations would be a perennial subject of contract negotiations. Management’s efforts to win concessions would not amount to substantial changes in the 1960s, in fact, management was unable to stop Local 161’s efforts in winning a contract that improved conditions for its members.^[4]  But as the AMPTP grew internationally,as the film industry created labor saving technologies like televisions, digital cds and as the labor movement lost strikes the union density declined. In 1940 (the union density rate was 100% but in the 1980s the density went down to 40%. Thus, the AMPTP’s ability to determine the terms of the contract grew because the entertainment industry did not need as much skilled labor. By the late 1980s, management was more successful in trying to make working conditions more flexible even as the entertainment local attempted to stamp out non-unionized work in its industry. Although the union local did incorporate new crafts, and higher wages, the growing strength of the AMPTP limited the options of Local 161 in the 1980s.