Summit County Labor News

Motion Picture Operators Sign Three-Year Pact

As has been the case for many years, harmonious relations will continue to exist between Akron Motion Picture Operators and the owners of neighborhood and independent theaters in the Greater Akron area that is under the jurisdiction of the local union.

The reason for the continued good relationship is the new three-year agreement between the owners and the union. It becomes effective December 1.

Under the terms of the new contract, operators in the smaller theaters will have restored to them the pay increase that was wanted by the union last year, and in the larger houses there will be an hourly rate pay increase.

Negotiations for the new contract were conducted over a period of weeks. For a time the settlement on contract provisions were delayed by a small minority of theater owners who objected to giving the operators any pay increase at all.

However, the will of the vast majority of the owners prevailed, and at a meeting held with union representatives late last week, an agreement was reached that was satisfactory to all parties concerned.

Operators, who received no pay increase last year in the neighborhood and independent houses at the request of the owners who asserted business conditions were bad, felt they should receive an increase this year. The fact that many of them work seven days a week, with no pay adjustment for either Sunday or holiday work, was a source of irritation, especially in view of the fact that various pay increases were granted to members of other unions in the area.

All contract negotiations, however, were conducted in a friendly and cordial atmosphere, and the reaching of the new agreement is considered a victory for harmonious employer-employee relations.