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News :: Labor : Media |
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It's showtime: Movie theater workers set to vote on union |
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by Andrew LaVallee
Email: alavallee (nospam) ledger.com (verified) |
22 Jul 2005
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CAMBRIDGE - Employees of the Kendall Square Cinema will vote next week on whether to join a union as the workers seek improved benefits and more structured wage increases. |
The Patriot Ledger
July 21, 2005
CAMBRIDGE - Employees of the Kendall Square Cinema will vote next week on whether to join a union as the workers seek improved benefits and more structured wage increases.
The vote on July 30 will determine whether the 20 members of Kendall Square's floor staff become part of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 791, a chapter representing more than 6,000 workers in Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island.
The Kendall Square Cinema opened in Cambridge in September 1995 and quickly became one of the most popular art-house theaters in the country. It is owned by Landmark Theatres, a Los Angeles-based chain focused on art-house and foreign films. The company couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
If the union vote is successful, it will lead to the first union at any Landmark theater.
The floor staff are responsible for selling tickets and working the concessions, as well as cleaning the nine-screen theater. Starting wages have remained at $7.25 an hour since 2002, and few staffers are employed full-time.
The floor staff do not receive vacation pay or sick days, and are paid only time-and-a-half on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, said Lauren Ryder, a 30-year-old Somerville resident who has worked at the theater for five and a half years. They also did not receive promised wage increases in January, she said.
"It was never a very good-paying job," she said, but after Landmark Theatres was acquired by 2929 Entertainment in September 2003, reviews and raises nearly stopped.
Nancy Campbell, a 33-year-old Somerville resident who had worked at Kendall Square since its opening, resigned from her assistant manager position on July 17. She said she was asked by Landmark's management to dissuade employees from voting for union participation.
"Ultimately, they do not want the movie-going public to know this is happening behind closed doors," she said.
She said it was not uncommon for her to work 39-hour weeks. She said that after 10 years there, she has never received benefits such as health insurance. |
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