Workers at Alamo Drafthouse's Sloans Lake location in Denver have voted to authorize a potential strike following recent layoffs. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7777 alleges the layoffs were illegal, citing ongoing contract negotiations and a history of reduced hours instead of layoffs. This comes as workers at Alamo Drafthouse's New York locations, organized by the United Auto Workers (UAW), also await a decision from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after filing their own unfair labor practice charges.
One hundred percent of participating staffers at the theater chain’s Sloans Lake location voted on February 5 and 6 to greenlight the potential work stoppage. Days earlier, the chain laid off 47 out of nearly 300 workers across three Colorado locations, a move that Denver-based Communications Workers of America Local 7777 claims is illegal.
The CWA Local is also attempting to organize theaters in Littleton and Westminster, Colorado; the fate of those drives will be determined by ongoing proceedings at the National Labor Relations Board. Local 7777 president Anthony Scorzo argues that the company didn’t conduct the layoffs lawfully while it was negotiating a first labor contract at Sloans Lake. “We’ve been unionizing the three locations. We’re currently bargaining a contract, hopefully for all three locations, but right now it’s at Sloans Lake,” he says. “That’s why it was illegal, because it was a change in working conditions and it violated past practice. These workers have never faced layoffs except under COVID, only reduced hours.” The CWA Local filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB alleging repudiation/modification of the contract and refusal to bargain/bad-faith bargaining at Sloans Lake on February 3, the day of the layoffs; the case has yet to be decided. The union currently has unresolved unfair labor practice charges filed at the Littleton and Westminster locations, too, which means those nonunion workers could theoretically also participate in a strike. Alamo Drafthouse declined to comment, though an insider close to the company disagreed with the union’s arguments and said management was bargaining in good faith. With their strike authorization vote, the Colorado workers join colleagues at Alamo Drafthouse’s lower Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn locations, which authorized a strike on January 28 and 29, with 98 percent of participants in favor. The New York theaters, which are unionized with a United Auto Workers Local, protested their own layoffs by filing an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board on February 3. “This was the first time that we had a blatant flagrant stepping over the line beyond what the law allows,” UAW Local 2179 second vp Will Bobrowski told The Hollywood Reporter. The union’s goal with the authorization vote is to encourage the company to reverse the layoffs and restore workers to their positions, says Scorzo. A strike authorization vote does not guarantee a work stoppage, but it does give union leaders license to call one. The union hasn’t selected a particular time for any potential walkout yet. “We’ll leave it up to the workers or the bargaining committee to decide when they want to go out,” Scorzo says. The union began negotiating its first contract for Sloans Lake workers in September and has had nine bargaining sessions with management since. Another session is scheduled for next week. Ogletree Deakins’ Matthew Kelley has led the bargaining for management, while Scorzo has headed up the talks for the union.
ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE STRIKE LAYOFFS COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD UNIONIZATION CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS
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