On December 5th, 1940, representatives from the Screen Cartoonists Guild informed Walt that they had gained enough cards from Disney employees to be recognized by him. Upon learning of this, Walt became as mad as a hornet. He absolutely despised unions, not unlike most other studio heads at the time. He modelled his business work after that of Henry Ford, another Midwesterner who had a mutual despise of labor unions. He did not want to be told by anybody how to run his company. It was either his way or the highway. Walt called Babbitt into his office that month and told him to "stop this thing now". Babbitt refused to reconvene the Federation. That very exchange with Walt was also a huge factor in Babbitt making his decision to join the Guild. In early 1941, Disney met with Babbitt, Herbert Sorrell, and the president at the time of the SCG, Bill Littlejohn, to discuss the recognition of the labor union. In a very heated exchange, Walt absolutely refused to negotiate and declared that he would not let his studio be unionized. Herbert Sorrell responded by threatening to turn Disney Studios into a "dust bowl" if the Guild was not recognized. This frustrated Walt so much that in February of …show more content…
It required a great deal of work, determination, competence, faith, and above all unselfishness. Some people think we have class distinction in the place. They wonder why some people get better seats in the theatre than others. They wonder why some men get spaces in the parking lot and others don't. I have always felt, and always will feel that the men that contribute most to the organization at our studios should, out of respect alone, enjoy some privileges. My first recommendation to you is to put your own business into order, you can't accomplish anything by sitting around and waiting to be told everything. If you're not progressing as you should, instead of grumbling and growling, do something about