All workers in playgrounds and places of amusement and recreation. All professional entertainers.
Submitted by x344543 on Tue, 07/18/2006 - 4:32am
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.
Submitted by x344543 on Fri, 07/14/2006 - 11:58pm
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.
Submitted by x344543 on Thu, 06/22/2006 - 2:35pm
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. . .
Read More
Submitted by x358379 on Sun, 06/18/2006 - 3:31am
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.
Submitted by x345292 on Sat, 06/17/2006 - 12:48am
Shattuck union workers brought their campaign for union recognition to the streets of Berkeley on Wednesday afternoon. About sixty people including many Shattuck workers gathered in front of the theatre to wave signs, hold banners, sing, shout play guitar and fiddle. The message was clear, "we are union and we want changes now". Aurelaea River, a long time Shattuck Cinemas worker brought aong her electric violin and got the proceedings under way by playing a fast tune. Then Ryan from Riot Folk played guitar and sang to get the crowd together.
Next came Ryan Hatt, one of the workers, to list what the workers demands are. A living wage, health care coverage, corporate accountibility, and respect. And a door chair. workers stand for long periods taking tickets. They had a chair but corpoate didn't approve. Chair gone. Then a meeting took place a couple of weeks back with the CEO. He came to explain what a union is. He wasn't quite sure what a union is after showing up an hour late. But the chair reappeared. Only to dissapear a few hours later. Rumor has it that management thought the union might claim the re issuance of the chair as a victory. The chair is stashed away for now.
Share