United Scenic Artists. Local USA 829

The United Scenic Artists originated as the United Scenic Artists Association and received its charter from the AFL in 1918 as Local 829, an autonomous local of the Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades (formerly known as the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of America [BPDPA]). The union's main purpose was to safeguard and maintain the high standards of the member crafts and to fight unfair conditions. New scenic artists received their union cards only after passing a rigorous examination; being reviewed by the union as a whole; and receiving strong recommendations from three other members at the membership meeting. To this day, the USA conducts a demanding entrance examination prior to initiation.

When Local 829 was first organized, scenic design and painting, costuming, lighting, make-up, and properites were all executed by one artist. During the 1920s, Scenic Designers and Scenic Artists became differentiated from one another. Studio Shopmen, Costume Designers and Lighting Designers became the next important classifications. During the 1930s, Display and Diorama artists as well as Mural Artists were added to the job categories of the local.

During the 1920s, the local was quite active in AFL campaigns such as a protest march in Albany, led by Samuel Gompers, to defeat the Duell-Miller bill. This legislation would have outlawed strikes and lockouts, enforcing binding arbitration on labor disputes. By 1922 there were 600 members painting and designing sets in the theatrical industries, and creating displays for windows, lobbies, fairs and carnivals. USA members were also employed in the burgeoning movie industry for properties, costume design and execution, and make-up. Wages were good-- a journeyman in 1926 earned two dollars an hour. Women have always been active in the union. They have found employment in all its fields, scenery design and painting as well as costume design and make-up.

Although there was widespread unemployment in the theatre industries during the Depression, union scale for scenic artists remained high; a journeyman in 1933 was paid $2.25 an hour and an art director $6.25 per hour. The union limited the workday to spread out jobs, and many Local 829 members worked in federal relief projects. The union adopted regulations to limit these members' competition with artists still employed in commercial scenic shops. With the World's Fair in New York in 1938, the employment picture for scenic artist and designers brightened somewhat.

Local 829 wholeheartedly supported the war effort of the 1940s. Many members went into war industries "for the duration", while others were active in the Theatre Artists and Designers War Service, donating labor to patriotic parades and pageants and decorating windows for Russian War Relief. The decade also saw considerable improvement in wages and working conditions.

The United Scenic Artists had always had jurisdictional disputes, especially with locals of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). These differences became increasingly sharp in the late 1940s, especially during a 1948-49 strike in the motion picture industry in Hollywood. During that period the television industry was growing and changing rapidly as well, and Local 829 moved quickly to develop its jurisdiction. Negotiations with the major networks were complicated and intense; there were many strikes in TV in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

United Scenic Artists from the late 1950s through the 1970s has continued to maintain high wages and excellent trade standards for its jurisdiction. In the 1960s, Lighting Design was added as a classification, and specialized contracts with the networks, with commercial producers, and with motion picture studios were all developed to reflect the growth of these entertainment fields.

There are 1650 members in this "regional" local, including members in Miami and a small field office in Hollywood. All of the East is includeed in Local 829's jurisdiction, with New York City claiming about 800 active members. The members in California are only theatre designers, other scenic artists having been lost to IASTE in the 1948-49 strike. A sister union, Local 350, is headquartered in Chicago and covers workers in the Midwest, South and Southwest. In recent years, efforts have been made to merge Locals 829 and 350.

From the description of Records, 1897-1978. (New York University). WorldCat record id: 477250421