1. The problem that caught my interest in this chapter was that in 1941, the working conditions of Disney’s factory was not all that great. Hundreds of Disney cartoonists went on strike because they wanted to express some support for the Screen Cartoonists Guild. The problem is that Disney’s response to the union betrayed the employee’s sensibility. He fired anyone who was compassionate with the union that only wanted better working conditions. Disney tried really hard to break apart the union in many ways. This problem soon reflects a larger social issue. Are employees allowed to make labor unions in order to demand better conditions without jeopardizing their jobs?
2. This is a quote from Walt Disney during the height of the labor tensions at his studio, in which he provides a solution to the labor union’s problems, he says “Don’t forget this, it’s the law of the universe that the strong shall survive and the week shall fall by the way, and I don’t give a damn what idealistic plan is cooked up, nothing can change that”.(37) By the quotation Disney believes that those who work hard and don’t complain will get greatly rewarded as oppose to someone who doesn’t because they will just end up getting fired and losing everything. Disney states that the solution to the workers problems is not forming labor unions, but in “a good days work”.(37)
3. I can personally relate to this problem because as a swimming instructor, my working conditions are not always fair. The reason I say this is because for my job I have to be inside a swimming pool for hours at a time, teaching several classes. Sometimes the water is unbearable cold and would make me shiver to the bone. When I would leave the facility, I would already be showing signs of catching a cold. My problem relates to the chapter because I don’t believe that I’m getting paid enough for what I do and in the conditions I’m willing to do it in.
4. There are two different types of solutions made in the chapter. One from the workers point of view and one from the view of Walt Disney. The workers solution to better working conditions was simple forming labor unions to make their demands heard. The solution of Disney was to fire any employee that supported the unions, rough up workers on the picket line with private guards, impose a phony company union, bring in an organized crime figure from Chicago to rig a settlement, and also accuse the leaders of the Screen Cartoonist Guild of being Communists. Fortunately, all of Disney’s efforts failed and the solution made by the workers finally worked out when Disney acceded to the union’s demands.
5. Seeing as how the solution of the labor unions worked, there is no need for me to make them another one, so I will be putting myself in the shoes of Walt Disney by inventing my own solution to his problem. If I were given unlimited resources and connections, my solution would be to try to pass a law that would prohibit any and all assembling of labor unions. That way if anyone opposed the law they would have to face getting arrested. I would try to work alongside the government so that my outcome would be having a content company that doesn’t complain about their working conditions.
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