San Francisco Bay Area GMB

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Shattuck Cinema Workers Rally on Saturday July 22

Posted Tue, 07/18/2006 - 3:32am by x344543

Shattuck Workers Rally on Saturday July 22 at 2pm at Shattuck Cinemas, 2230 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley.

Shattuck Cinema workers voted 22-2 to authorize union representation on June 16. Contract talks are set to begin Thursday, July 20th. Over the course of the union campaign Shattuck Cinema workers have received support from the local community which they know is essential to pressure Landmark Cinemas, which owns the the Shattuck, toward open and honest negotiations.

Amongst the workers demands are: paid sick days, health benefits, a chair for the ticket takers, and a living wage. Currently, the starting wage at the Shattuck is a mere $7.25 and hour, while the City of Berkeley's official living wage is $11.04 an hour. Most employees do not earn more than $8.00 an hour regardless of years of service or job performance. The company prefers what they call "Merit Raises". Annual Raises amounted from a $.03 to $.06 an hour increase for most employees last year.

Quicksilver Messengers submit their demands. It was almost TOO easy.

Posted Sat, 07/15/2006 - 4:26pm by x357537

What happens when you have four dues paying wobblies, plus one treasurer of the SF Bike Messenger Association, plus one old wob from the 70’s, and a boss that could care less about the messenger division, all in one shop?  In the case of Quicksilver Messenger in San Francisco—anything you want—and it was very easy.  

We have just gone from being one of the worst messenger companies in the industry, to one of the best (and legal companies don’t count, since they charge their clients an arm and a leg).  Actually, we haven’t gotten the paycheck to prove it yet, but it should be coming shortly.

We wanted our rates to be increased.  We also wanted to change the zone map, because it was just not worth it to go to certain places.  The fact that a delivery to Van Ness and Market gets you the same amount of money as a delivery to California and Divisadero is (I mean—was) completely ridiculous.  And to add insult to injury, we were not even getting the 49% commission rate we thought we were getting because the company would first subtract a booking charge, making our rate more like 35-40%.  That is illegal by the way, but we are going to let bygones be bygones, since from now on, we are going to be getting a straight 49% commission.

Shattuck Cinema Workers Prepare for Contract Negotiations; Support Rally on Saturday June 22, 2006

Posted Fri, 07/14/2006 - 10:58pm by x344543

By Mary Loritz - July 14, 2006

Workers from Shattuck Cinemas emerged victorious in their fight for a union after voting 22-2 in favor of unionizing with the Industrial Workers of the World. Their union drive became public on May 8th, and a little over a month later, on June 16th, they had a union.

Congratulations! It was a fast process that wouldn't have been possible without community support. The Shattuckunion is an inspiration for cinema workers everywhere who are receiving poor pay with little or no benefits. However, many of the workers' biggest concern was never whether they would gain recognition as a union, but how the company would respond during contract negotiations. Landmark Theatres has been generally unresponsive to the campaign -- they've been unavailable for comment whenever questioned. Their attorney recently responded to the union's demand to bargain letters, and both sides are now preparing for contract negotiations. The union's main objective right now is to get a fair contract - and in a reasonable amount of time.

Landmark Workers Unite! Fighting Back Against Mark Cuban's Corporate Culture

Posted Thu, 06/22/2006 - 1:35pm by x344543

While doing a little muckraking into Mark Cuban's entertainment empire not long ago, I stumbled upon the efforts of a group of Landmark Theatre employees at Boston's Kendell Square Cinema who – much to the vigorous union-busting activities of Cuban and co. -- had successfully formed a union. Last Friday, Landmark's Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley became the second Landmark Theatre to unionize despite "an attempt by CEO Bill Banowsky to thwart the union attempt," according to a press release. . .

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Union Wins Landslide Victory - Shattuck Cinema Workers Pull Through with Vote for The IWW

Posted Sun, 06/18/2006 - 2:31am by x358379

BERKELEY 6:30 PM -- This afternoon workers at Landmark Shattuck Cinemas voted an outstanding 22 to 2 in favor of unionization. Despite new promises by Landmark and an attempt by CEO Bill Banowsky to thwart the union attempt, workers at the Shattuck say they've never really been worried about the vote.

"I've felt extremely confidant that the union would go through since the beginning." said Ryan Hatt, cinema employee age 21. "Support has been almost unanimous since day one. There was no contest, if you would have asked me two months ago I could've guaranteed a landslide victory."

Now that the vote has gone through, workers are looking ahead to the contract negotiation process. Contract negotiations at Kendall Square Cinemas in Cambridge, MA, the only other Landmark theatre to hold a union, have been moving extremely slowly with Landmark officials meeting only the bare minimum requirements to keep the negotiations process "in good faith" over the last year.