Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the IWW. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.

. . .but your continued solidarity is essential!

What you can do to support the Shattuck Union:

(1) Email the owner, Mark Cuban and tell him to respect workers rights - Mark Cuban's website where you can contact him is blogmaveric.com

(2) Email the company and demand better working conditions: <customerservice@landmarktheaters.com>

(3) Join the IWW and organize your theater.  For information about organizing, please visit this page.

(4) Visit the Shattuck Cinema, in Berkeley, and tell the workers you support them.

(5) Contact the Bay Area IWW and ask us for further ideas for providing solidarity and support.

By Fellow Worker Duncan

Hello Fellow Shattuck Workers,

This is the latest update on Union dealings with the Company. Last time, we mentioned that Unfair Labor Practice charges were filed against Landmark. These charges had to do with the Company review process and wage increases. While many people had gotten some reviews none had received all three reviews as shown in Landmark’s own handbook.

Because this involves money, those missed reviews add up to retroactive pay. As we pointed out before, the days after the charges were filed had the company doing a flurry of reviews. The company wants us to sign off on the back pay/raises immediately. We decided to wait and be sure every worker received a raise, back pay, or both before we agreed. Subsequently, the Company recognized during negotiations, the need to compensate missed reviews with a higher amount of wage increase not based on the point system.

The weekend of March 16th was full of activity for the Bay Area IWW. On Friday there were two workplace intervention rallies, the first at 6:30 AM and the second twelve hours later.

It was still dark in the sky when FWs from the Bay Area GMB began gathering outside of the management office at Curbside Recycling. The reason for the visit was primarily to show visible support to the shop steward for repeated harassment (including unpaid suspension) on the part of management. Several of the shop workers were also there to show support, and the crowd was treated to invigorating speeches by several of the recyclers as well as other branch members.

The other reason for the rally was to demonstrate to management that the union can mobilize when it is needed to support the workers fighting for their interests. This is important because management is trying to drive out any workers who are accustomed to acting as a union, and because the workers may try to increase pressure for a good contract when the current one expires  jointly with the the Buyback Recyclers, an IWW shop on the same lot. Management was clearly uncomfortable when around 20 wobblies entered the office to discuss the bullying of the shop steward...

Article by Vincent Quan; Photo by Alex Chan, Daily Californian, Monday, March 19, 2007.

Singing songs of solidarity and workers’ rights, more than 80 Shattuck Cinemas employees, union members and residents rallied Friday evening to draw community support for the employees as they attempt to unionize and renegotiate their contract with Landmark Theatres.

The rally, which took place outside the Shattuck Cinemas in Downtown Berkeley, marks workers’ latest attempt to promote their eight-month effort to gain an expanded health care plan, seniority privileges and excused sick days.

The Berkeley City Council voted to support the workers in February.

One year later, the Shattuckunion continues to organize and grow with each new experience. Workers are putting on another Rally on March 16, 2007 at 6pm in front of the theater.

Shattuck union workers began holding organizing meetings in March 2006 and filed an election petition with the NLRB on May 08, 2006. Six weeks later workers voted overwhelmingly for the union. A month later negotiations with Landmark Cinemas began. Bargaining is ongoing and no agreement for a contract has been reached.

Community support has played an important role in elevating the struggle of the Shattuck workers to a new level. Growing confidence among the workers has enabled us to continue to become better union organizers and to explain the union to new hires.

Workers at all Landmark Theaters in California were recently given a $.75 an hour raise.  This comes on top of the raise that workers received several months ago. Which occured shortly after the union election victory.

The previous raise was nationwide.  The recent raise to California employees is connected to the minimum wage or so Landmark Theater Co. says.   Whether or not the recent raise is connected to the minimum wage is debatable.  Most likely it is connected to the presence of a union at the Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley. 

Further evidence of the company doling out raises and benefits to keep more workers from going union is a health care plan that is now available to some workers.  Also holiday pay was restored to all shifts on Christmas and New Year after a one year absence.  As contract negotiations drag on in Berkeley, the company continues to come up with money they claimed they didn’t have.  Keeping the rest of their theaters union free is the likely reason for this. 

By Judith Scherr - Berkeley Daily Planet, January 5, 2007

While several local long-term labor disputes ended happily for workers in 2006—Berkeley Honda, Alta Bates/Summit and Claremont Resort & Spa employees signed contracts after protracted struggles—workers at the Shattuck Cinema, Doubletree Hotel, UC Berkeley and the Woodfin Suite Hotel will continue to fight for better pay, benefits and working conditions in 2007.

Shattuck Cinema In Negotiations

While the hospitality industry becomes increasingly unionized, a movie-theater union is rare. In June, however, workers at the Shattuck Cinema, one of 56 Landmark Theaters, voted overwhelmingly to establish a union. One other Landmark Theater —the one in Cambridge, Mass.—is unionized.

But neither has successfully negotiated labor contracts.

“It’s a slow and tedious process,” said Hargitt Gill, organizer with the Industrial Workers of the World, better known as the Wobblies.

Soon after the union was voted in, the company voluntarily raised wages. Eligibility for partially-employer-paid benefits continues to be an issue, as is the question of the theater becoming a union shop, where every worker must belong to the union.

If negotiations are not successful, “we will be increasing the pressure, asking for the community to help us put more pressure on Landmark,” Gill said.