From the SAG-AFTRA Archives: George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO, speaking at the dedication of the Screen Actors Guild’s national headquarters at 7750 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, on May 25, 1956 Others attending, mentioned by Meany: Screen Actors Guild President Walter Pidgeon; Monsignor John Devlin, pastor of St. Victor’s Church in West Hollywood and director of the Legion of Decency in Los Angeles and California Governor Goodwin Knight.
GEORGE MEANY: President Pidgeon, Monsignor Devlin, Mr. and Mrs. Knight, guests of the Screen Actors Guild, officers, ladies and gentlemen, I’m very happy to be giving this, given this little chore, Walter, and come out here and pay tribute to the Screen Actors Guild and the completion of this very beautiful building. To me this is a tribute to the pioneers, who back 23 years ago, got together to do something about the intolerable conditions that prevailed at that time in the acting profession. The union, and to us it is a union and of course the name ‘Guild’ doesn’t take anything away from it because after all, the entire philosophy of the trade union movement as we know it came to us from the ancient guilds of Europe. This union has done a job that is a credit to the trade movement as a whole. It was started, of course, as a protest, as I said, against conditions that were nor susceptible to solution by the individuals. That had to be solved, the problems had to be solved by joint action. Now I want to say also that this is, this building is a credit to the stars in the profession. The people whose names are emblazoned on neon lights from one end of the country to the other, felt that they had an interest, not only in their own individual problems, but they had an interest in all the people that worked in the motion picture industry. And that they knew that the industry could not be prosperous. It could not be a good industry if the stars were just the ones that would, ah, who would just worry about themselves as it were and not worry about the other people in the industry. I’d like to pay tribute here as an American and not particularly as labor official, but as an American to the splendid work done by the Screen Actors Guild as part of the Hollywood Victory Committee during the last war, when they combined entertainment unions, came up with, oh, 50 or 60-odd thousand appearances before troops all over the world. Playing their part in the welfare of our country in times of stress. And in addition of course, that work goes on. In all sorts of public appearances and community activities and the theatrical profession makes its contribution there. In the final analysis, what is going on here in the Screen Actors Guild is what we do in all the trade unions of the country. The worker is a worker to us whether he’s on the stage whether he is laying bricks on the building or painting a building or digging a ditch someplace. He’s a worker and we long ago found out that the worker’s problems are pretty much the same, no matter what particular craft or trade that he happens to be in. And what we are doing here in the United States of America is making our contribution to this democratic system through the trade union movement. We feel that through the trade union movement, we can make a contribution, that we can make this a better country and that we can
perhaps make democracy work a little better than any other ideology that may raise its head throughout the world. In the final analysis, the trade union movement is set up to secure for labor under our democratic system a fair share of what labor management, investors and the entire community puts into an enterprise. And I feel that this is true in the acting profession, it’s true in the industry that produces, produces modern motion pictures. Not only do we feel that, that the laborer is entitled to his share, has a moral right, we feel that this is socially desirable and we know beyond question that it’s economically desirable for the laborer to get his fair share because we could not maintain this dynamic economy we have here in America unless we could consume the tremendous production of our mines and our mills and our factories. And that consuming power comes from the mass purchasing power which is generated at the bottom of our economic structure. And the trade unions do make a contribution in that way, to the welfare and to the interests of the entire country as a whole. So, I’m happy to come here today, to dedicate this building on behalf of the Screen Actors Guild. To dedicate it if I may on behalf of the 16 million trade unionists who hold membership in the AF of L CIO, and to dedicate it above all to the service of the people in this profession and to the glory and the welfare of our country as a whole. Thank you very much (APPLAUSE). ####