Editing Disney animators' strike (section)

===Background===
In the 1930s, a rise of labor unions took place in Hollywood in response to the [[Great Depression]] and subsequent mistreatment of employees by studios. Among these unions was the [[Screen Cartoonist's Guild]] (SCG), which formed in 1938 after the first [[Strike action|strike]] at an animation studio occurred, the [[1937 Fleischer Studios strike]]. By 1941, SCG president [[Herbert Sorrell]] had secured contracts with every major cartoon studio except Disney and [[Warner Bros. Cartoons|Leon Schlesinger Productions]]. [[Leon Schlesinger|Schlesinger]] gave in to the SCG's requests to sign a contract after his own employees went on strike, but upon signing reportedly asked, "What about Disney?"<ref name=video>{{Cite video
  | people = [[Jean-Pierre Isbouts|Isbouts, Jean-Pierre]] (Director)
  | title = [[Walt: The Man Behind the Myth]]
  | medium = Television documentary film
  | publisher = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]/Walt Disney Home Video
  | date = 2001}}</ref>

Disney's animators had the best pay and working conditions in the industry, but were discontented.<ref name=book>{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=WALT DISNEY: AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL|publisher=Disney Editions|isbn=0-7868-6027-8|year=1994}}</ref> Originally, 20 percent of the profits from short cartoons went toward employee bonuses, but Disney eventually suspended this practice.<ref name="Barrier, Michael 1999">Barrier, Michael, ''Hollywood Cartoons'' (1999), Oxford University Press, UK</ref> Disney's 1937 animated film ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' was a financial success, allowing Disney to construct a new, larger studio in [[Burbank, California]],<ref name=PBS>{{Cite video
  | people = Grimberg, Sharon (producer)
  | title = [[American Experience]], Walt Disney- Part One
  | medium = Television documentary film
  | publisher = [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]
  | date = 2015}}</ref> financed by borrowing.<ref name=prescod>{{cite web |url=https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/05/disney-workers-animators-cartoonists-artists-strike-picket-1941-guild-scg-sorrell-babbitt |title=80 Years Ago Today, Disney Animation Workers Went on Strike |last=Prescod |first=Paul |date=29 May 2021 |website=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]] |access-date=4 June 2021}}</ref> At the Burbank studio, a rigid hierarchy system was enforced where employee benefits such as access to the restaurant, gymnasium, and steam room were limited to the studio's head writers and animators, who also received larger and more comfortable offices. Individual departments were segregated into buildings and heavily policed by administrators.

The box-office failures of ''[[Pinocchio (1940 film)|Pinocchio]]'' and ''[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]]'' in 1940 forced Disney to make layoffs, although Disney rarely involved himself in the hiring and firing process with those who were not atop the pay chain. The studio's pay structure was very disorganized, with some high-ranking animators earning as much as $300 a week, while other employees made as little as $12. According to then-Disney animator [[Willis Pyle]], "there was no rhyme or reason as to the way the guys were paid. You might be sitting next to a guy doing the same thing as you and you might be getting $20 a week more or less than him". Staff were also forced to put their name to documents which stated that they worked a forty hour week, while their actual hours were much longer. In addition there was resentment at Walt Disney taking credit for their work, and employees wished to receive [[Motion picture credits|on-screen credit]] for their art.<ref name=prescod />