Disney animators' strike

The Disney animators' strike was a labor strike by the animators of Walt Disney Studios in 1941.

The economic turmoil of the early 1930s led to a rise of labor unions in the US, including the Screen Actors Guild in the motion picture industry, which was formed in 1933. Later that decade, the animators of Fleischer Studios went on strike in 1937 when Max Fleischer fired 15 employees, all of whom were a part of the American Art-Union. The Fleischer strike was eventually resolved by the formation of the Screen Cartoonist's Guild in 1938. The leader of the Guild was Herbert Sorrell. Sorrell secured contracts with Terrytoons, Walter Lantz Productions, Screen Gems, George Pal, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Leon Schlesinger Productions, producer of the popular Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros., and Leon Schlesinger himself attempted a lockout, but gave in to the union after the employees went on strike. Upon signing the union contract Schlesinger asked, "What about Disney?".

Disney artists were the best paid and worked under the best conditions in the industry—but they were discontented. In the early days of the studio, Walt Disney gave 20 percent of the profits from the short cartoons to his employees as bonuses. However, in 1936 Disney suspended this practice. After the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Disney started construction on a new spacious studio in Burbank, California. He began moving his staff there from his old studio on Hyperion Avenue in December 1939. At the new Burbank studio a rigid hierarchy system was in place with departments in segregated buildings that were more heavily policed by Disney administrators. Employee benefits such as access to the gymnasium, steam room, and restaurant, as well as spacious and luxurious offices, were reserved for top writers and animators.

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