October 5 - Hollywood’s Black Friday

Labor History in 2:00 · Oct 5, 2026 · 1m

On this day in Labor History the year was 1945.

That was a day known as in Hollywood “Black Friday.”

After World War II, the movie industry began to rake in profits.

But they did not pass those on to their employees.

10,000 members of the Conference of Studio Unions, were on strike.

They were part of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.

They were also in a jurisdictional battle with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, or IATSE, over who should represent set decorators.

The strike wore on for half a year.

The studios had more than 100 films backlogged, and were able…