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The Mouse Factory proved to be the biggest challenge. Disney artists considered themselves the patricians of the industry, under Walt's benevolent rule. But anger over the long-promised profit sharing from Snow White, alienation over blunt maneuvers by Disney lawyer Gunther Lessing, and other conditions made the workers sympathetic to the call to unite.
character © Walt Disney Pictures |
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Walt felt personally betrayed when Art Babbitt (right), his highest-paid animator, resigned as president of the Disney company union to join the Guild. Three days after Disney brazenly fired Babbitt, the Disney strike began on May 29, 1941.
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Above: Looking north on Buena Vista, strikers picket the Disney main gate.
Picketers camped out in the vacant lot across the street
(where St. Joseph's Medical Center is now located),
and ate catered buffet meals contributed by sympathetic union
restaurant chefs from Chadney's and the Smoke House.
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Fearing the
loss of government contracts
and the recall of bank loans,
Disney signed and has been a union shop ever since.
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